Jungle Diaries Amazon Adventure 2002
by Ryan Griffin
Summary: Set in Lord Archive's Diaries Universe. Chronicles a team of Chosen Children from Belem, Brazil. Latest Chapter: Burning Light.
1. Culture Shock

**Jungle Diaries, Volume I: Culture Shock**  
By Ryan Griffin  
  
Deep within another world, a large, dark, iron tower rose above the landscape, disfiguring the pristine look of the jungle below. While, thousands of miles away, the sudden presence of a dark tower would be nothing special, here, the inhabitants here were scared, for they knew nothing of what this meant.  
Two creatures, however, did know what this meant. One was inside the tower, another far away from it. And ironically, both were thinking the same thing:  
"Now is the time to act."  
  
  
Another world away, a tall, lanky, thirteen year old boy was leaving an airplane, permanently. He had pale blonde hair and a rounded face. His hazel eyes darted quickly over his surroundings beneath their thick lenses. His able brain calculating the gravity of the situation he was in.  
His name was James McConnell. He was from Denver, Colorado, and now was going to live in a foreign country, Brazil.  
James calculated the situation and realized: it wasn't a big deal.  
In fact, it was sort of an improvement.  
In front of James stood his father, Bryan McConnell. His father was a botanist, who prior had worked at a university in Colorado, and now was hired for field research at the Goeldi institute in Belem. Belem was a large port city on the mouth of the Amazon River.  
For James, it was practically a dream come true. He loved science, particularly zoology, and the Amazon rainforest was a gold mine when it came to science. He had prior interned at a genetics lab, and was called lucky by many of his colleagues on his move. In some cases, it was the most respect he got, most marveled at the fact that a seventh grader became an intern; many patronized him because of his age even though, in his opinion, he knew more than several of the paid lab technicians.  
Socially, it didn't impact James at all. His classmates ridiculed him, perhaps because he always read and never played outside. Perhaps because he never even tried to make friends. Perhaps because his eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark and that he once asked a teacher to turn down the lights so he could see.  
James sighed, he didn't think about it, but life really sucked back in the USA. Now, at least, he could get a new life. He liked the warmer climate, at least.  
James took his carryon, moved with his dad with the driver marked "McConnell," and they were off.  
  
  
"So the store's run by Native Americans?"  
"Yup. One of the few families to live in modern civilization. Their name was changed to Lopes a while back. They have a daughter about your age."  
"Hm," James was not very excited about that prospect.  
As they entered the shop, James saw that it looked rather antiquated. It wasn't that the store or its supplies were decrepit; more like it was a new store back when Brazil was first colonized. The woman behind the counter was a Brazilian Native, likely in her late fifties.   
"Ah, the McConnells. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said with a smile, "I am U'yara Lopes."  
"Well met. I'm Bryan, this is my son James."  
She took a good look at James, and said, "You're going to be at home here."  
James blinked, he had no idea what that comment meant, or what could possibly warrant it. The woman turned back to his father without explaining the comment, or indeed acknowledging that she made it.  
"Most of my family is out, gathering supplies, but my granddaughter, Juana is here. Juana!" She called.  
"Coming grandmother!" She came bounding down the stairs. James got a good look at her. She had long, dark hair, deep brown skin, a nice face, and eyes that reminded him of a dog's, large, brown, and full of innocence. She had a reasonable chest size, and was only about an inch shorter than James. James came to the realization that she was rather pretty.   
"Ah, you must be James! I've been waiting to meet you," she replied in English.  
James was shocked, "Err… likewise, Juana. Nice to meet you."  
"Well," Bryan said, "we'd better get our stuff to our apartment."  
"I'll show you there," Juana chirped.  
  
  
It didn't take long for James to set up his room. It was smaller than his old room, but still big enough. He had his books, his videos, a laptop computer, a sizable collection of animal figurines, and odd rocks, gems, fossils, pieces of fur, and other interesting things he managed to collect over his short lifetime. James had no music, and no need for a stereo, but his father cared nothing for movies, and relinquished to him their sole TV. Both had huge collections of tomes, and in their living room, in lieu of any electronic entertainment, was a library and their most valuable treasure, a replica saber-tooth tiger skeleton given by a friend of the family.  
James was reading when he heard a knock on his door, followed by Juana entering the room.  
"Hello James," she said, then paused, "I can't speak English too good, may I speak Portuguese."  
"Very well," James responded in Portuguese, "It would do me good to get immersed in the language. I took some classes, but I doubt they'll help much"  
"It must be tough, coming into a foreign country. I'd be scared."  
James blinked, "Well…I've always wanted to come here. I wanted to see the rain forest."  
"Really! My family does lots of work in the rain forest!"  
"Yes?"  
"Our store only carries sustainable products…products that don't harm the forest, like fruit. We have a very strong base in tourism."  
James nodded, "What is school like?"  
"It's hard, but I'm sure that you'll be fine. I heard you're really smart, so it won't be a problem. Besides, American schools are supposed to be the best, right?"  
"…Right."  
Juana then asked, "Where's your mother?"  
James stiffened a bit, "Dead."  
Juana drew back in shock, "I'm sorry,"   
James sighed, "It's OK. She died when I was six. I barely knew her. It really affected my dad, though. Before he was given the offer to come here, he felt barely alive. I think if it weren't for me, he would've just given up completely. He felt much better when given the offer to come here. I'm glad, he's all the family I've ever had. My mom has no one on her side of the family, and my dad's side…the less said about that, the better."  
"Sorry for bringing it up," Juana paused a bit before asking another question, "Do you miss your friends?"  
James stared, "What friends?"  
"Back in America. Do you miss them?"  
James paused, "I really don't have any friends. I never talked to anyone. Most people didn't like me for some reason…and I just didn't make friends."  
"Really?" Juana asked, her eyes brightening, "That's great!" James was a bit shocked at her response. "I mean…I really don't have any friends either. Not many people like me either…because of my race." She paused, "Does it bother you?"  
"What?"  
"That I'm a Native American?"  
James looked incredulous, "Not at all."  
Juana was relieved, "Well, what I mean is, I really don't have any friends either, and since you're here, all alone, I was wondering if you'd be my friend."  
James was shocked at the idea. He'd never once been asked to be someone's friend. It was a whole new experience for him.  
"I'd like that," he smiled.  
Juana smiled back, "Thank you." She paused, "Nice room."  
"Thanks, designed it myself…"  
  
  
James and Juana became fast friends. Within a couple of days, James became more familiar with Portuguese, and became more in tune with the culture.   
The day before school was to start, James's father got permission for the two of them to go on a small scale research expedition. Juana's father, who was a freelance researcher, was also to be on the expedition.  
As James stared at the looming forest before him, he felt true awe for the first time in his life. As he was driven up to the huge canopy, he was already confronted by it, in the form of birds squawking and shrieking, monkeys chattering, and giant swarms of butterflies. James, when he was younger, always remembered playing in gardens, trying to identify butterflies. He found it would be almost impossible to do so here.  
Juana looked on with similar, if not the same awe. Despite going to the jungle occasionally, she still found herself dwarfed by the giant trees.  
For their part, the research team ignored the two children. The team was simply recording a certain population of ant on a few particular trees near the border of the forest. It was nothing major. James and Juana were basically given free reign.  
This is probably why, when it happened, the team was a good enough distance away not to notice it.  
It started with an earthquake. Now, earthquakes rarely occur in Brazil, especially near the Eastern coast. After the first tremors, the scientists were rather shocked.  
James and Juana instinctively grabbed one another. A blinding light glowed brilliantly in front of them, forcing them to close their eyes. When the light subsided, the two were holding two glowing balls of energy, which were coalescing into a physical form.  
Unfortunately, before they could examine that form, the earth swallowed them up.  
  
  
"I say we kill it now and get it over with."  
"Don't be so hasty. It might have something to tell us. A messenger or a prophet, perhaps?"   
"I don't trust it."  
"You don't trust anyone."  
"With good reason"  
"What do you say?"  
"I'd like to talk to it. We've heard stories from the eastern continent about their species saving the area from overlords."  
"We've also heard stories about them being overlords. Littering the area with towers of control. And did we not see a tower of iron being erected, destroying the forest in the process? Better to kill him and not waste time second-guessing his actions.  
By this point, James had opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't. He groaned and tried to move.  
"It's moving!" a tall figure began to tense up.  
"Quiet!" a small, pink figure chided  
"Ah, my head!" James groaned, "…Where am I?"  
"Ah, so you do speak our language!"  
By now James took a good look around, and shocked him worse than a sudden headache. There were four figures standing around him, and only one of which looked even remotely human.  
The latter was a two meters tall anthropoid fox, which sported yellow fur and purple gloves. Its posture and its intense glare told James that this was the creature that wanted him dead.  
Another was a pink bird, about a meter tall, with an ankle bracelet. Another of the same height looked like a cross between an iguana and a small child, save for two flowers that were its hands.  
The smallest was a white dog with a gold collar. It couldn't have reached James's knee standing on its hind legs. Yet, through its posture, its eyes, and the way the other creatures acted around it, James could tell it was the leader.   
"Good to see you up and about. I've heard the passage into our world is physically painful, and was wondering if you were well," the dog said.  
"And if you were well, perhaps we could remedy the situation," the fox bared its claws.  
"Hush," the dog admonished, and then turned to James, "Forgive Renamon. He doesn't trust anyone outside of our village. Come to think of it, he doesn't trust most of the village," the dog chuckled to himself.  
James was pretty much silent throughout this dialogue. He then asked, "Who, and what are you? And where am I? One minute, I'm in the jungle, then there's an earthquake and flashes and a ball of light appears in my hand-"  
He then realized that he was holding something in his right hand. It was shaped somewhat like a walkie-talkie. It was white, with bright orange side trims and buttons.  
"What on earth is going on?" James never felt this clueless in his entire life.  
"I shall try to explain. You are a human, from Earth. This is the Digital World, and we are Digimon. It stands for Digital Monster;" the dog looked at him speculatively, "A human has never entered our realm before."  
"Then how do you know about us?"  
"Because our worlds are linked. You may be the first human to arrive in this area of the Digital World, but others have been seen to the far north, the far east, and the far west."  
"Not the south?"  
"We are almost as far south as the Digital World goes."  
"So you're all Digimon. You look like different species, though."  
"There are hundreds of types of Digimon, but we are all one species. We tend to refer to each other by the name of our type. I'm Plotmon."  
"Wait, was that Protomon or Plotmon? I didn't quite catch that."  
"Our type's name should be Protomon, but was pronounced wrong by early Digimon, so our name became Plotmon. This," he motioned to the bird, "is Piyomon. This," he indicated the flower/lizard, "is Floramon. And he," the fox, "is Renamon."   
"Nice to meet you, I am James McConnell. You can call me James. And I kindly ask," he addressed Renamon, "that you not disembowel me."  
"How about if I slit your throat?"  
"Peace, Renamon. Tell me, how did you come here from your world?"  
"Well, I was in a jungle in our world, when suddenly, there was this earthquake, and a flash of light, and Juana and I…oh, no! Juana! Where is she?" James became frantic.   
"We sent another team to investigate the second crash, where your friend most likely is," Plotmon said.  
James relaxed, when he finally realized what the device in his hand was. It was that ball of glowing light he grabbed before becoming sucked into the vortex.   
"Do you know what this is?" he asked.  
"A Digivice!" Plotmon said in awe, "So I was right! You are a Chosen Child!"  
Renamon relaxed his posture, but his claws still twitched in anticipation, "Being a Chosen doesn't make him a saint. The Kaizer was a Chosen Child."  
Plotmon looked at James with a bit more scrutiny, "I wonder…" the dog approached James, "May I touch it?"  
James considered, "Sure, I don't see why not," He brought his hand forward, with the Digivice in it. When Plotmon's paw touched it, it burst in white light.  
James balked, "What does this mean?"  
Plotmon's eyes shined like they never had before, "It means you're my partner! I knew it. I've waited my whole life for my partner, and now, here you are!"  
"Partner?" But even as he asked, he knew in his heart that the creature before him was linked to him somehow, that somehow a piece of him had been lost, and now was found in this creature.  
"Come, I will take you to our village!" Plotmon ran off. Floramon and Piyomon followed. Renamon and James looked at each other, and walked side by side, neither wanting to turn their back on the other.  
And now, James took a good look at the world he landed in. It was surrounded by trees the size of skyscrapers. The smaller trees of this world reminded him of the larger trees he saw in the Amazon. James never thought he could feel smaller after seeing the Amazon for the first time, but now, he felt completely dwarfed.   
Creatures beyond his imagination rested in those giant trees. A huge flaming bird passed overhead. Dragonflies the size of a man buzzed by. A giant spider web hung between two trees, with a spider that could've eaten a minivan. James had to move out of the way of a tank-sized metal beetle that blared through the woods, not even noticing him.  
Upon entering the rainforest, James commented that there were "killer bugs," referring to the huge number of mosquitoes and similar insects. Here, "killer bugs" took on a completely different meaning.  
"We're here!" Plotmon yelled when he reached the tallest tree they had come across yet. He pressed his paw on the tree, and a door appeared in the tree. The Digimon entered, and James followed. When they were all in, the door closed, and they lurched forward. James boggled. The tree had an elevator in it!  
"How does this work? This is incredible!" James asked.  
Three of the four Digimon in the elevator tensed and Renamon simply said, "Don't ask, unless you want your ear talked off."  
James looked at him oddly.  
Plotmon looked up and said, "Well currently we are in a modified transport cell of the tree, to make it short," sending a miffed look at Renamon.  
"Ah, so we are actually in a modified xylem of the plant! Incredible! But, the doors closing, how does that work?"  
"Well…" and the two became engrossed in a discussion. The remaining three Digimon tuned the lecture out completely, and Renamon let his guard down. It was obvious this human was indeed Plotmon's partner.  
They stopped on a platform on several of the tree's major branches. The platform was about as wide as a park and was split into layers, separating merchants from residencies from what appeared to be government-like facilities.   
As the group left what James and Plotmon dubbed a "xylevator," they split up. Only Plotmon and James remained together.   
"The second group should be here with your friend," Plotmon said.  
James looked at him, "What exactly is your role here. It's obvious this is a village."  
"Digimon don't usually group into large communities like this one. But this area of the Digital World is a tough one. More dangerous than many others. So Digimon at weaker levels join here to be protected from larger forces. I'm currently the apprentice shaman."  
"This really is an incredible society!" He said as he looked around, "There are so many species that get along with one another."  
"Again, groupings like this are very rare. And you define get along too loosely. Digimon of similar types and species tend to congregate with one another and stereotype against others, sometimes dismissing others as below them or dangerous, like Renamon. I've heard Earth is more advanced technologically than Digiworld, so I guess that our problems don't really exist."  
"Actually, the same ones exist, but for much more idiotic reasons. Hey, another xylevator is opening!"  
Another group of Digimon appeared. This group also dispersed when the doors opened leaving behind a tan-skinned female human and a two foot long golden armadillo-like creature.  
"James!" Juana said brightly, "I was getting worried about you!"  
The two Digimon seemed to know each other, and greeted by touching ears.  
"Same here. Your clothes are different!"  
"So are yours."  
Indeed, James had changed from a white shirt and denim shorts to long khaki pants, a khaki vest, and a blue long-sleeved shirt with a picture of the Earth and the words "Fragile: Handle with Care," printed in English and Portuguese. And what appeared to be a whip was attached to his belt. Juana's clothes had changed into a buckskin jumpsuit, which looked more North American than Brazilian. She carried a bow and quiver of arrows.  
"This world is very strange, and interesting. Juana, you should meet Plotmon. Turns out he's bonded to me!"  
"So is Armadimon," she referred to the armadillo-creature, "She was very nice when she found me."  
"Ah," Armadimon looked up, "You must be James. Glad to meet you," she stuck out her ear, like a hand shake. Not wanting to look rude. James got on all fours and touched ears. Juana did the same with Plotmon, albeit more reluctantly.  
"So I assume you have one to?" James asked, holding his Digivice up. Juana responded by holding up a similar device, brown where James's was orange.  
"Armadimon called this a Digivice. What does that mean? Why are we here? And when can we get back?"  
"I believe I can answer that," another voice said. A figure that looked like a fictional wizard carrying a staff approached.  
"Honorable Wizarmon," Plotmon and Armadimon chorused, and bowed, which is hard to describe for quadruped beings.  
"I always knew that my two apprentices were Chosen Digimon. You humans were sent here because an evil has infected our world and you two, with the help of your Digimon, must stop it."  
James balked, "You mean we've been sucked into your dimension to become superheroes?"  
"Well, yes, you could put it that way. Trees have been chopped down, and an iron tower rests in its place. I do not know what lies in there."  
"Honorable Shaman, I thought you knew everything!" Plotmon gasped.  
"I know very little, young one, but I understand much. I understand that the appearance of the tower and you Chosen is no coincidence, that you must-" He stopped, "There is trouble!"  
At that moment a mob of Digimon scattered from an area, chased by a large, humanoid Digimon. It was a three meters tall ogre creature with brown skin, shaggy white hair, long sharp teeth, and a leopard skin loincloth. It carried a huge wooden bone club. It was currently wreaking havoc on the village.  
"That's a Fuugamon!" Plotmon called out. "An adult level Digimon. Very powerful and dangerous."  
"Something is dreadfully wrong! There are no Fuugamon in the surrounding area!" Armadimon yelled.  
"Then, we have no choice but to stop it," Wizarmon said, with an eerie calm, "_Magical Game!_"   
He raised his staff, and struck the ogre with a streak of blue lightning; the creature stumbled back, but did not look seriously hurt.  
Plotmon took the opening, _"Puppy Howling!_" He let out a screeching howl that nearly made James and Juana's ears bleed. Fuugamon roared in pain.  
Armadimon continued the assault, "_Rolling Stone!_" She curled up into a ball, and then rolled at top speeds into Fuugamon, knocking the ogre off his feet.   
"_Thunder Cloud!_" Wizarmon formed a ball of lightning in his hand and tossed it at Fuugamon's head. He roared in pain, and then went still.  
Plotmon edged closer to inspect the damage, when James yelled, "Get away, he could still be conscious!"  
The Irony Gods heard James, for at that instant, the brown ogre jumped to his feet and yelled, "_Evil Hurricane!_" and held out his fist towards the trio of Digimon. A blast of wind blew them all back.  
Plotmon leaped forward and yelled, "_Petite Punch!_" and socked the ogre right in the face. It had absolutely no effect.  
"_Heavy Stick!_" Fuugamon smacked the dog with his club. Plotmon careened off the branch and fell into infinity.  
James had a less than intelligent moment and jumped off the edge to catch Plotmon. Luckily, he caught the puppy Digimon. Not so luckily, he, too, began to fall.  
In a stroke of luck, the pair fell into a tangled web of vines about a hundred feet under the tree. James briefly wondered how, in the name of physics, he could've fallen into the vines without so much as a broken limb, but the wondering was cut short by the fact that Fuugamon had jumped from the branch to attack the pair.  
James barely scrambled away from an Evil Hurricane attack and stumbled to the up most vines in the web. It broke off, and James had about five picoseconds to grab onto the vine before becoming a human pancake on the forest floor. He did, and swung through midair, screaming like a ninny all the while.  
"James!" Juana moved to jump after him, but Wizarmon held her back.  
"Leave him. He knows what he's doing and where he's going."  
Juana took a second look at James, and had a hard time believing that he knew what he was doing.  
Indeed, if you asked James if he knew what he was doing at that moment, he would respond, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" which, roughly translated from deathly scream, means "No."  
Although, after the vine had completed its swing, James realized there was another vine. He grabbed it, let go of his current vine, and swung on the new vine.  
James soon began to become familiar with the situation. While he was indeed mortified by swinging from a creeper vine some seventy stories above ground, a part of his brain seemed to feel comfortable.  
_Brachiating!_ James thought, _It's some part of my brain that instinctively remembers how my tree swinging ancestors lived and feels comfortable in this situation._  
James had little time to ponder this quandary, however, as he had to direct the vine towards another vine.  
Throughout all this, Plotmon was clinging for dear life to James's arm, and now said, "There's a light to the left!"  
James turned. Indeed, a bright yellow point of light was glowing from his left. And, as he turned the other way, Fuugamon was jumping branches and was rapidly gaining on them.   
James grabbed another vine and flew towards the light.  
_ Boy, this sure isn't what I expected when I came to Brazil. I knew I was in for some surprises, but nothing like this._ James thought, almost bitterly.  
Surprisingly, his subconscious responded, _And what did you expect, James?_  
He chose to respond in turn,_ Well, I'm not sure. All of this seems both completely shocking, and yet, surprisingly familiar. Like the vines. It feels like…_  
_ Like you've gone home?_  
James nearly blinked in shock, _Yes. But I feel…like I know nothing. Like everything I did know is a lie, and now I have to learn everything all over again._  
The voice in his subconscious answered, _Well then, James, are you ready to learn? To use your mind the way it was trained from birth, to look at the world with a scientific view?_  
James seemed shocked, but responded the only way he could, _Yes, yes I am_.  
He felt a smile come from the voice, _Good. You have earned the Digimental of Knowledge, James McConnell. Use it with the wisdom I know you have_.  
The yellow light in the distance became brighter, and suddenly, James and Plotmon were flying towards it, not on a vine, but in a ray of light.  
"James, that's a Digimental! With it, I can evolve into a more powerful Digimon and defeat Fuugamon!"  
James nodded, "Then let's end that walking natural disaster!"  
They reached the source of light. It was a small egg shaped structure in a hollowed out tree, about the size of James's palm, yellow except for strange purple markings.  
He landed in the tree, and the Digimental flew to James's hand.  
"Say 'Digimental up,' James, and I'll evolve."  
He nodded, "Digimental, UP!"  
"_Plotmon, armor evolve!_" Plotmon was spun around, and the Digimental spun in unison. The two combined, and the puppy was surrounded by a yellow pollen mist. The mist coalesced into a swarm of butterflies, before breaking away. The creature in Plotmon's place was a meter tall. It was vaguely humanoid, covered in golden armor. Its hands were three pronged talons; two wispy earlike antennae came from his head, as well as a curled golden spiral, reminiscent of a butterfly's tongue.  
But the overwhelming feature of the creature was its giant white butterfly wings. They kept the Digimon afloat in the air indefinitely, and they were so large that their wingspan could've covered Fuugamon. The Digimon landed and announced its name…  
"_The sweetness of science, Butterflymon!_"  
Fuugamon chose that moment to jump onto a branch of the tree that James and Butterflymon.   
"_Evil Hurricane!_" another blast of wind flew towards the insectoid Digimon, who simply batted his wings and fluttered away.  
Fuugamon howled in fury, and punched a few more Evil Hurricanes, which Butterflymon dodged easily, making his opponent grow angrier by the minute. The ogre jumped up to smash the butterfly with his club, and he effortlessly flew away. The ogre landed unsteadily on a branch and leapt towards a new, easier target: James.  
Fortunately, as an Evil Hurricane was about to knock him off the branch, Butterflymon swooped in and grabbed his human partner.  
James could only stare, dumbfounded, as his Digimon carried him through the air effortlessly. He looked down on the ground again, but without the fear he had when swinging on the vine. He felt the strong muscles of Butterflymon's arms and the powerful beat of his wings, and it felt as if they were his own wings, that he himself was flying.  
The moment was cut short by a powerful blast of wind that nearly blew the pair out of the sky.  
Butterflymon steered to the platform where Juana, Armadimon, and Wizarmon were standing. He deposited James on the platform.  
Butterflymon's deep green eyes winked, "I wouldn't want my partner to get hurt. _Sweet Thistle!_"  
He opened his right talon, and a yellow pollen haze coalesced around it, turning into what looked like a wheat stalk, made completely out of sugar. It looked about as threatening as a Pixie stick.  
Yet, as Fuugamon pounced down on Butterflymon, brandishing his thick wooden club, the thistle knocked the club aside and threw the ogre aide. He landed on the platform.  
Quickly regaining his composure, the ogre roared and beat his chest.  
Butterflymon chuckled, "You should really calm down! _ Sweet Pheromone!_"  
He flapped his wings at high speeds, letting off a sweet smelling yellow haze. It enveloped Fuugamon, who stopped roaring, and began to look dazed and confused.   
"What is that?" James asked.  
"My Sweet Pheromone attack puts enemies into a mental haze, similar to opium in its chemical makeup. It lasts long enough for me to do this!" With that, the armored butterfly grabbed Fuugamon by his shoulders and tossed him into the tree's trunk.  
Fuugamon hit the trunk with a "thunk" and momentarily coughed up a piece of circuitry. With that, he shimmered, and shrunk into a small brown goblin.  
"Wait, I know that Digimon! It's Shamamon!" Armadimon exclaimed, "He's a child Digimon that lives in the sector near my home!"  
Wizarmon hovered over to the piece of circuitry that Fuugamon expelled, then turned to Shamamon and produced a vial, "Drink this."  
"Thank you, Honorable Wizarmon," Shamamon drank the potion and handed back the vial. He began to look much better.  
Butterflymon fluttered over to the goblin, "What happened to you? Why did you evolve?"  
The goblin shrank in fear, "Who are you?"  
Wizarmon beckoned James over, "This is Plotmon. With the help of his human partner, James, he armor evolved into Butterflymon."  
The goblin's eyes became starstruck, "A human! I can't believe it! In my lifetime, I was able to meet a Chosen Child! All this time, I was friends with a Chosen Digimon! I feel honored!"  
James felt rather embarrassed, "Well, I wish we had met under different circumstances."  
Shamamon instantly became worried, "Why? What did I do wrong? Have I offended you?"  
"You don't remember? You were a Fuugamon. You were just trying to kill us," Butterflymon said.  
Shamamon became really worried, "I can't remember! I was eating when something flew towards me and rammed itself into my throat. I was choking, then I felt my body go limp, then I woke up here."  
Wizarmon held out the device, "You expelled this."  
Shamamon nodded, "That's about the right size."  
Wizarmon paused, "This device must allow a Digimon to evolve unnaturally, causing them to go feral in the process. I will need to study this more. James, Butterflymon, I thank you."  
Before James could respond, Butterflymon grabbed him and danced around, "I evolved, I evolved, I evolved, yay!"  
He promptly devolved into Plotmon and stared up with James in rapt awe. A yellow light streaked from the puppy and was placed in James's vest, transforming into a D-Terminal.  
"Thank you," the dog said.  
James laughed, "I'm not even sure how it happened."  
"The Digimental chose you," Wizarmon stated, "It chose you because you activated the trait it is associated with, Knowledge. It chose you to use its power, to fight this."  
He placed the circuitry in James's hand.  
"It is clear that the tower and this device are related, that some great evil looms over our land. And you two were chosen to fight it."  
Juana looked at it, "It's almost like our world. The natural beauty of the forest is being threatened by technology. I will fight this evil. I will save your forest."  
Armadimon nudged Juana's leg, "Our partnership signifies the connection between our two worlds. If you save our forest, perhaps you will save yours."  
James looked at his watch, "I will join in the fight, but what about our world? We have lives there, are we going to abandon them to save your world."  
Juana paled, "My dad must be going crazy!"  
Wizarmon nodded, "I have a way for you to return to your world. Come."  
They walked to a small hut. Upon entering, it was obvious the hut was much larger on the inside than the outside. Wizarmon led them to a room, and pulled back a curtain, revealing a thick blue pool.  
"This is the portal to your world. It appeared here yesterday, heralding your arrival."  
With that, James and Juana realized their partners had vanished. They soon returned, carrying sacks filled with their few possessions.  
Plotmon yipped happily, "Well, no time to waste! Let's go!"  
James looked confused, "You're coming with us?"  
Juana shook her head, "We can't let you do that. You have lives here; we can't take that away from you."  
Armadimon shook her head in response, "Our lives are to be your partners. We are linked to you by soul itself. We are meant to be with you.  
"Well, then," James picked up Plotmon, placed him on his shoulder, and held on to his bag, "I can't wait for you to meet my dad."  
Armadimon looked up at Juana, "Can I ride on your shoulder?"  
Juana shook her head, "Not unless I want a broken spine."  
Wizarmon beckoned the foursome to the portal, "Hold out your D-3s. It should take you back to the place you were taken from. You should be able to open the portal from any computer."  
They nodded. The two humans brought forth their Digivices, and the two pairs of human and Digimon were absorbed into the blue light.  
  
  
Getting home from the Digital World was a weird experience. How we managed to hide Plotmon and Armadimon and avoid interrogation from a group of scientists, who are inherently curious anyway, is a mystery. I guess they figured we passed out after the earthquake. They'd been searching for us, and were just glad we were alive.  
I couldn't hide Plotmon from Dad, anyway. They're still talking now. Dad, of all people, knows not to reveal Plotmon's existence. I can trust him. On some level, I think he's as excited as I am about him. All scientists believe in extraterrestrial life, and to my dad, meeting one was an incredible experience.  
Well, it's been an interesting day, to say the least.  
I felt like a real hero today. Like if Indiana Jones meets Star Wars. And the weirdest thing is that it feels normal, like a right of passage.   
I'm worried, though. Fuugamon was powerful. If something could create that power, much less control it on some level, it would have to have incredible power behind it.  
And I'll have to stand up to that power.  
Fortunately, I have Juana by my side. That feels good to know. She has a power behind her, I can feel it. There's probably a similar power behind me. The two of us were Chosen for a reason.  
Still, I have to take things one step at a time. And the next step is school. I personally can't wait.  
I mean, my strong point has always been learning.  
  
- From the Diary of James McConnell  
  
  
**Author's Notes:**  
  
First off, I own very little of this. Digimon and its characters belong to Toei Inc., Bandai, and people who are generally not me. The universe the story is set in belongs to Lord Archive. James and Juana belong to me, as do the personalities of their partners. If you want to use 'em, fine. But give 'em back. And telling me would be nice.  
It took me forever to get his story out. I first had this in mind around late March. A few hard drive reformats and cases of writer's block later, here we are.  
If any aspect of this story confuses you, good. It will be explained later.  
I don't live in Brazil. If at any point I make any reference to Brazilian life that is incorrect, please notify me, so that I may correct it.  
Have questions? Comments? Death threats? Then review, or email me at griffinguy24@yahoo.com.   
  
  



	2. Friendships and Acclimations

**Jungle Diaries, Volume II: Friendships and Acclimations**  
By Ryan Griffin  
  
There was a rule against taking dogs to school. Of course, this rule is kept in place because a dog will cause disruption among the students. However, normally, it is the student who would want the dog to be brought to class, not the dog itself…  
"But why can't I go, James? I want to learn what you're learning!" Plotmon, a Digimon resembling a beige puppy, whined.  
His human partner, James, a lanky blonde kid in glasses, sighed, as he put on his school uniform, "Plotmon, I've told you already. The school doesn't allow animals."  
"And I've told you already, I'm NOT an animal."  
"And I've told YOU already, that, because you AREN'T a human AND look  
like a dog, people will assume you're an animal. If you go, I'll get in  
trouble. Read our books. We have plenty of them."  
Plotmon conceded, but pouted, "I want to stay with you."  
James ruffled Plotmon's fur, in a gesture that both calmed and infuriated the puppy, "I do too, but I can't bring you, so we both have to make the best of things."  
Plotmon sighed, "You're right. But then again, you're my partner, so you have to be always right, like I am."  
"That's the ticket. Keep it up and sooner or later, we'll both start believing it. I'll see you later."  
"Bye," With that, James rushed out of his room, out of the apartment, and down the stairs, hoping to run into Juana. He did, although a little more literally than he would have preferred. After a few painful seconds and a detangling of limbs, the two were dusting themselves off.  
"James, what is with you? Where's that agility I saw in the Digital World?"  
"Apparently, still in the Digital World. I guess I do better with an ogre howling after my blood."  
"Speaking of which, how'd your dad take to Plotmon?"  
"They love each other. Dad thinks Plotmon's an alien I've befriended, and Plotmon thinks Dad's a humanized version of Wizarmon. How about you?"  
"My Mom and Dad don't know yet. My grandmother does, though. She thinks Armadimon is my spirit guide. Are you ready for your first day of Brazilian schooling?"   
"A bit at odds. I'm still not sure how the school system works here."  
"Didn't you get information before coming here?"  
"Yes, and they made me take tests and send in my schooling records before placing me in the right grade, but I'm not sure how it works on a day to day basis."  
"Well, we have one less year in the primary system than you do. You're starting in the seventh grade, right? I think that's the eighth grade in America's system. We'll be starting in the second semester, and, unless I'm mistaken, we're in the same class. You have morning classes, right?"  
"Yes."  
"I am a bit worried that you won't know everything you need to."  
"Believe me, I'm prepared, I had to go to several tutors over some of the school year and all of the summer to bring me up to speed. And teach me Portuguese."  
"I thought you spoke Portuguese a bit too fluently for a foreigner."  
"I had a really strict instructor, who was born in Brazil actually. Rio, I think. I just hope that it converts well into day to day talking."  
"You're fine. Nervous?"  
"No, not really. I'm not expecting anything much."  
  
  
The first thing that James noticed was that everyone was staring at him. A new student was always something to stare at, but James was different. The fact that he was American obviously meant something. While he wasn't the only white person there (There were several of them, most of them of German or Italian descent), he felt sure that he was the only one who had lived in a foreign country for most of his life. There were a lot of things being whispered around the room. James couldn't catch most of it, but the most common word used was "yankee," the term, which may or may not have been derogatory, for an American living in South America.  
James had a feeling he'd be hearing this word a lot.  
Another factor was the social status of most of the kids. Belem was dual city, really. There were the rich and the poor, and not much in between. They were all from the rich side, as shown by the higher-class private school, which meant that there was a good possibility that many of them were snobbish and that they would most likely ostracize him.  
God, it was EXACTLY like America.  
Because of the proximity of their names, Juana and James were seated next to each other, and Juana was offering the charity of telling him who was who… with appropriate commentary…  
"That's Luisa, she's nice, but she hangs out with the popular kids, so she won't look at you if she's anywhere around them. Lucas is a real jock, he'd probably give you a hard time. Miguel's a real snob, if he says anything to you, I'll be surprised. Claudia is a real grade freak, top of the curve. You might like her, but she's competitive like you wouldn't believe…"  
Soon, a rather large looking Hispanic boy came up to him, towering over his desk. James could only stare up at him.  
"New kid, what's your name?"  
"James McConnell. Yours?"  
"Marco de Santos. So, you're an American, huh? Your people are so deluded. You use up all the resources, grow rich and fat while countries like ours starve, and you think you can dictate the world because you've got a couple of bombs. You fat, rich pig."  
"I suppose it would be moot to point out that I am skinnier than you and that my dad, being a barely middle class research scientist, most likely earns less than your family.  
Marco huffed, "You mess with the wrong people, and you'll be sorry," he looked over to Juana, "Or hang around the wrong people for that matter. Little native bitch doesn't belong here," he said as though Juana weren't there.  
James got up at that, "Say what you want about me, but don't insult Juana."  
Juana buried her head in her hands. James was merely digging himself into a grave, and she didn't need any of his "help." Besides, he was still a head shorter than Marco.  
"If I were you, I'd stay away from that bitch. She'll bring you down."  
"We're neighbors, I can't stay away from her. She lives on the lower floor."  
"So, rich, greedy, and a wiseass. I should just –"  
At that, another Hispanic boy, about an inch or two taller than James with a wild haircut stepped in, "Marco, chill, give the new guy time to settle in before you start hounding him."  
He huffed and left.  
"Don't worry about him, he's stupid. My name's Carlos DeCosta, nice to meet you."  
"I'm James McConnell."  
"Man, I'm sorry that he had to be your welcoming party, but, don't worry, you'll do fine. And don't worry about Juana. This crowd's more prejudiced then most of us. If you need help, just ask."  
"I will, nice to meet you."  
Juana nodded brightly, "He's one of the good ones. Actually, Carlos is the only good one."  
James, "Good to know."  
At that, the bell rang, and the first teacher, a seasoned old woman with a stern face, entered, "All right, class, we shall begin. We have a new student here this semester, Mr. James McConnell, who has moved here from America. Mr. McConnell, please stand."  
James did so, letting out a weakened, "Hi."  
"Well, Mr. McConnell, we are studying Brazilian History in this class. I trust that you have had some tutoring in the subject before transferring here?"  
"Yes, ma'am, I have."  
"And," she then began to speak in heavily accented English, "Shall we have to translate into English for you?"  
"Perhaps," James began in English, "_Embora, eu compreendesse o português mais fácilmente do que você pensaria._"  
Dra. Cruz's face twitched, "You understand Portuguese easier than I think, do you, well, it appears you've learned enough to become a wiseass in the language."  
James began to babble and sputter, alternating between English and Portuguese, as most of the class began to laugh.  
Cruz narrowed her gaze, "You, McConnell, will be nothing but respectful, you hear me? Your reputation already precedes you, so the least you can do is treat me with proper respect. Understand?"  
"Yes," James nodded, and made the "OK" gesture with his thumb and index finger.  
The class burst into hysterics and the teacher's eyes widened in horror. Juana made the kill sign by slashing her hand across her throat.  
Before the teacher could say anything, Carlos got up, "Dra. Cruz, as I'm sure you, and my classmates, are aware, that gesture is different in America than here. It is the same as the thumbs up sign."  
The teacher nodded, still fuming a bit.  
James whispered to Juana, "What just happened?"  
"You flipped her the bird."  
"I did?!" James was horrified.  
"Well, Mr. McConnell," the teacher interjected, "if you were not taught this basic gesture, can I possibly trust that you did the work that was due this day?"  
"Yes, I have it."  
"Then, present it to the class."  
James did, with few mistakes, and the rest of the school day slipped by uneventfully.  
  
  
"Thanks for the save back there. I was about a step away from creating an international incident," James chuckled.  
Carlos chuckled back, "It was nothing. But I wouldn't worry. Dra. Cruz is a bit on the sadistic side, and she doesn't like America, but she likes it when her kids work hard, and I can tell she liked that you speak Portuguese mostly fluently. Of course, you'll be getting flak for this for years to come from our classmates."  
James looked nonplussed, "It happened in America, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it'll happen here."  
Carlos looked puzzled, "You don't understand. Upon hearing that an American was coming into our class, they developed some very unfair opinions about you, and now, at least in their minds, you've confirmed it. They thought you'd be a complete fish out of water, a tourist on permanent vacation, and now you come in and immediately pull a faux pas, so they think their original ideas were correct."  
James shook his head, "You, good sir, have an incredibly good grasp of the human psyche. But you're wrong in one count: They would have thought their original ideas were correct anyway. They would have found some excuse to treat me as a 'tourist on permanent vacation' no matter how I acted. They would have taken some mannerism or fault or accent that I have and use it as fuel against me. At least now, I won't have to worry about not knowing why they'll treat me the way they will."  
Juana listened to this conversation with a great deal of puzzlement, "James, if you know this much about how other people think, why don't you use it to try and fit in?"  
James cocked his head, "What?"  
Juana continued, "You know, try and use that knowledge to improve your social standing," another blank stare from James, "Err…try and use your theoretical knowledge for applied procedures?" she said, barely understanding her own words.  
"Oh. I tried that once, and it got me a trip to the school's therapist."  
"Did it help?"  
"Immensely. The therapist finally got over his Oedipal complex."  
Juana and Carlos sweatdropped.  
"Besides, it's not worth the effort. I've already got one friend, who's worth the weight of ten of them." He gestured to Juana, who blushed at the praise.  
Carlos laughed, "Indeed. But, my American compatriot, you are mistaken. You have two friends."  
James looked confused, "Really? Who's the second?"  
Carlos rolled his eyes, "Me, genius!" He shook his hand, "You, McConnell, are the most interesting personality ever to wander his way into this school. I'd love to be your friend."  
James's eyes lit up, "Wow. Guess I can count myself lucky for coming here!" They released hands.  
Juana laughed, she had to agree with Carlos, and James certainly was interesting, if only due to his eccentricity.  
Carlos looked at them, "So, do you guys want to hang out? I know this great place by the water where you can walk, swim, mess with the tourists… You know, just doing nothing."  
James looked at Juana a while, before saying, "I'm sorry, but we have a previous obligation."  
Carlos snuffed, "What, the minute I say I'm your friend, you decide to blow me off?" James looked sorry, until Carlos burst out laughing, and James realized he was being factitious, "I understand. You can go without me."  
James was about to do just that, until he looked at Carlos, and, for a moment, realized he was lonely. As much as he understood that his new friends had something else to do, he wanted to spend time with them. He really wasn't that different from James himself. He had to wonder if, for all of Carlos's friendliness, if he truly had friends.  
James pulled Juana aside, "Excuse us," he dragged her into the anteroom of the classroom.  
"Ow, what was that for?"  
"Do you think we should tell him?"  
"What?"  
"Should we tell Carlos about the Digimon?"  
Juana looked at him like he was crazy.  
"I know, but I think we can really trust the guy. He doesn't seem like the type that would let any of his friends down, nor does he seem like the type that takes the status of 'friend' lightly. I mean, I've only known him for a day, but it feels like we've been best friends for years. I know it might be hard to understand…"  
Juana just nodded, "I feel the same way. Besides, he's the only person in this dump who's been halfway decent to me. I think we can trust him with our secret. Besides, there's one other thing we didn't consider."  
"What?"  
"Right now, we're alone as Chosen, and there's apparently a big threat looming. It wouldn't hurt to do some recruiting…"  
James looked surprised; he had never thought of that. He agreed, though.  
They returned to a slightly bewildered Carlos, "My friend, we are about to tell you something very, very odd."  
  
  
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, but… um… I can't finish that sentence."  
They had explained the Digital World in brief on the trip to the store. Carlos was a bit stunned, although it was less about what they were saying, and more about the fact that his newfound friends seemed to belong in straightjackets. Although the elderly Native American woman driving the car didn't seem to respond to the insane tale spouted by his peers. And, despite the general insanity that they were spouting, something tugged at the back of his mind upon hearing the word "Digimon."  
"I had a feeling you'd say that, so, we're going to prove it to you."  
Carlos could only follow, skeptical. They trekked to the back of the store, and up the stairs, and back up to James's room, where he encountered what looked to him like two very oddly shaped dogs.  
The smaller of the two chirped out in joy, "James, you're home! Now you can tell me what you learned in school today!"  
The larger, which looked more like a huge armadillo than a dog, said, "Juana, your mother said you have to move some boxes later. Can I help?"  
Suddenly, Carlos was wondering less about the sanity of his friends and more about his own.  
"Plotmon, Armadimon, we've decided to introduce you to a friend of ours. His name is Carlos. Carlos, this is Armadimon, my partner, and Plotmon, James's partner."  
Carlos stared for a second, then suddenly remembered something.  
"Hey, I remember a couple years ago, I saw creatures like these battling on the Internet, and I remember them being called Digimon! I guess I sort of forgot about it, although it would seem weird that I would."  
James looked thoughtful, "You know, I think I saw that battle, too!"  
Juana nodded in agreement.  
Carlos looked down, "I guess I'm not crazy after all! Hey, little guys, how's it going!"  
Plotmon looked up, "Great! How are you? What books do you read?"  
Carlos looked oddly, "Books?"  
Plotmon looked oddly, "Yeah, what do you like? I read this neat one on evolution today! But it's not the same kind of evolution Digimon undergo!"  
Carlos was confused, both because of what the little dog creature was talking about, and the fact that he seemed so excited about it.  
"Could you back up and explain how evolution applies to Digimon?"  
What followed was an in-depth explanation of their previous adventure, although Juana and Armadimon occasionally cut in to correct on certain aspects that were added, such as James throwing a rock in Fuugamon's face, or that were left out, such as James's girlish screaming while swinging from vine to vine.  
Soon, Carlos was feeling really comfortable, more so than he'd thought he'd feel around talking animals. Suddenly, after laughing out loud to a shared joke, Carlos finally voiced his opinion.  
"I want one."  
The foursome looked at him.  
"I want a Digimon of my own. I want a partner."  
James nodded, "We figured as much. Although, we're not sure you can have a partner, you see, you need to be able to get into the Digital World to get your partner, and you need a Digivice to do that."  
He glumly took out a white and orange walkie-talkie, while Juana took out a white and brown device.  
Carlos looked down, "So I can't go?"  
"I wish you could," Juana said, "We might need help against whatever force we need to fight, and you'd be a perfect candidate. In fact, we were sort of hoping you might get your Digivice while hanging around us and our Digimon."  
"You need my help?"  
"We think so," Juana nodded.  
"Then I have to go. I'm not going to let my friends go out and fight a dangerous force if I can do something about it. I mean, how could I call myself your friend if I left you guys high and dry like this?"  
With that, the laptop on James's desk hummed to life. When James opened it, a beam of light shot out and struck Carlos's hand. Carlos looked shocked, until the light subsided, and a device identical to James and Juana's, only a bluish violet where James's was orange and Juana's was brown.  
Carlos could only stare at the device until James laughed, "Guess you're in, buddy. Welcome to the team."  
Carlos held an expression of simultaneous happiness and disbelief.  
Juana nodded, "Since you're a Chosen like us, now, we better find your partner."  
Carlos nodded, the disbelief fading to pure happiness, "Yes, we'd better."  
James chuckled, "Well, then, what are we waiting for? Digital Gate, open!"  
The three humans and two Digimon were sucked into a rainbow colored light. The laptop shut down.   
  
  
The Chosen were relieved to find themselves in the middle of the village. The portal was a lot more stable than the last time they arrived. They were also relieved that they didn't appear in the middle of Wizarmon's house. It would be embarrassing to have to appear in a person's private home every time they went to the Digital World.   
Carlos was in a heap though, nursing a painful headache. He then looked at himself and realized that his clothes had changed; he was now wearing a blue T-shirt, brown pants, sandals, and was wearing what appeared to be a red life vest, although it looked more like an 80s style vest jacket. He then looked at Juana's buckskin outfit and James's khaki outfit.  
"Guess the Digital World comes with a new wardrobe," he said, trying to block out the massive yet subsiding headache.  
"Yeah," James said, "I'm not sure why."  
At that, a five foot tall yellow humanoid fox walked up to them, "Back again, eh, humans? And you've brought along a new friend, I see. What are you doing here?"  
Plotmon got angry, "For the love of Baihumon, stand aside, Renamon. Stop harassing us. Or do you forget that I outrank you?"  
Renamon laughed, "You've missed out on some big news, puppy. I now outrank YOU. You're looking at the new Captain of the Village Guard. And I'm looking at a FORMER Shaman's apprentice. So, this is my business, and if I don't find out why you five ALIENS are here, I will be forced to evict you, if not –"  
"Plotmon! Armadimon!" a gruff voice called out.  
Six heads turned to see a short brown goblin flanked by a wizard of about Renamon's height.  
"Shamamon, Wizarmon, it's good to see you both."  
The goblin rushed over, "Guys, Wizarmon's taken me in as his new apprentice, I'm going to be the next Shaman!"  
Plotmon smiled, "Great news. I'd have pegged you for the role."  
Wizarmon floated over to Renamon, "You were saying, Captain?"  
Renamon was at a loss for words.  
Wizarmon lowered his voice, "Keep in mind that these are the children of legends, and their Digimon were specially created by the Keepers of Balance. As such, they outrank ME. And, I believe that I, as the Shaman, still outrank you."  
Renamon took a long look at James, "This isn't over," he muttered under his breath.  
James started after him, "What did you –" but he was already gone.  
Juana looked at him funny, "What happened?"  
James returned the look, "Didn't you hear him?"  
Juana shook her head.  
James shrugged, "Oh well, back to business."  
Wizarmon nodded, "Indeed. I noticed your friend," he motioned to a dumbfounded Carlos, "You seem lost."  
Carlos shook his head, "Well, this is all very confusing. I only met Plotmon and Armadimon about an hour ago, and now, I'm suddenly here, surrounded by tons of Digimon.  
Wizarmon nodded, "You have a Digivice?"  
He took out the white D-3 with a blue-violet trim.  
"With any luck, I can help you locate your partner," Wizarmon took the blue/violet Digivice and raised it high, letting loose a flash of light. Wizarmon looked concerned.  
"Your partner is not anywhere near the village, Carlos. And the reading is rather odd. Your Digimon is apparently located in an area of the jungle known as the Flooded Forest, which is nothing but water and tall trees, yet your Digimon doesn't appear to be either aquatic or arboreal."  
Juana looked confused, "There isn't a village like this in that area?"  
Wizarmon shook his head, "The main settlement of the area is the fortress of Tonosama Gekomon. He makes the water breathable, but the Digimon would have to be relatively aquatic, and it doesn't seem to be. In fact, I don't think any Digimon resides in the settlement that isn't of the Deep Savers family."  
"Deep Savers?" James asked.  
Plotmon supplied, "That's the family of aquatic Digimon."  
James's eyes suddenly bugged out "Wait a second! We're going to a Flooded Forest? Flooded as in water?"  
Juana rolled her eyes, "Any other definitions of 'flooded' that we've never heard of before?"  
Carlos however, seemed a bit at odds with that statement, "What do you mean."  
James sweated, "Err…well… I've always wanted to go to one! Yeah … incidentally, how deep is it?"  
Plotmon confidently stated, "Over 150 meters!"   
James nodded, "OK, 150 meters. Lemme just convert that from metrics..." James went pale, "Sweet Darwin, that's over 500 feet!" suddenly he realized everyone was staring at him, "Umm, cool?"  
Juana almost laughed, "I keep forgetting how new you are to all this. I mean, you sure acted like some movie hero or something. A regular Indiana Jones."  
James blinked, "You've seen Indiana Jones?" when the answer was affirmative, he responded, "Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie!"  
"You too? I loved the opening scene, when we see that guy completely covered in venom darts."  
"I liked the part where the Arab guy starts swinging his swords threateningly, and Jones just pulls out a gun and kills him. That was great."  
Carlos joined in, "I loved the scene at the end where the Nazis opened the Ark and their heads explode!"  
Meanwhile, the accompanying Digimon were incredibly confused, "My students," Wizarmon asked, "What aspect of the human world are they discussing?"  
Armadimon seemed to shrug, "I have no idea."  
James suddenly shifted his eyes, "Err, you know how Indiana Jones feels about snakes… how snakes just seem to paralyze him with fear and he can't go on…?"  
Juana stared at him, "James, are you afraid of snakes?"  
James blinked, "No. I love them. I used to have one as a pet, until it died."  
Juana nodded, then turned her attention to Carlos as James took a deep breath.  
"To find your partner, you'll need to travel to the Flooded Forest. My portal can take you there instantly," Wizarmon led the Chosen to the portal.  
Carlos practically jumped into the portal, and Juana, Plotmon, and Armadimon weren't far behind. James was a bit apprehensive at first.  
"James, are you all right? I don't know much about humans, but this behavior seems rather abnormal," Wizarmon questioned.  
James shook his head, "I'll be fine," and jumped into the portal.  
Wizarmon shook his head, "I hope so."   
  
  
The term "flooded forest" is a term that manages to convey exactly what it is, but still doesn't do it justice. It was amazing to look out and see the vast forests covered completely in water deeper than many lakes.  
James gulped, his eyes wide.  
Carlos looked amazed, "Let's go." He and Juan jumped down a couple of branches before they realized James was still standing where they teleported. Furthermore, he seemed reluctant to move at all.   
"James, what's the holdup?" Juana asked.  
"N-n-nothing! Everything's fine! It's just… you guys don't really need me for this mission, do you?" James stammered, in a way that Juana hadn't seen before.  
"Of course we do! You're the only one of us that can evolve his Digimon past the Child stage. You're critical if we run into something nasty!" Juana retorted, wondering why she had to explain this.  
"Oh, right, there is that…" Yet James still refused to move.  
Juana sighed, and climbed back up, Carlos quickly following.  
Juana looked James in the eye, and said, "Enough of this foolishness, James. Let's go."  
"I'm not going."  
Juana grew angrier, "Let's go."  
"I'm not going."  
Juana finally got mad and tugged on his arm, "Let's GO!"  
"I'M NOT GOING!" James knocked her hand back and scrambled to the tree trunk. Finally, Juana looked into his eyes and realized; James was really scared, in a way she had never seen in anyone before. James seemed so brave, he jumped off a twenty-story tree and leaped onto a vine without hesitation, she never dreamed he could be scared.  
But Carlos realized the truth, "You're afraid of water, aren't you James?"  
Looking hurt, James nodded, "When I was really young, I nearly drowned in a lake. I can't go near a body of water without freaking out. I can't even take a bath without having a fit."  
Juana and Carlos gave each other a look.  
"I shower! I just can't take baths."  
Juana looked genuinely hurt, "I'm sorry James, I didn't know," she immediately turned serious again, "OK, we can't force James into this situation, which leaves us without a very important piece to our team: Butterflymon. Plotmon, could you evolve without James?"  
The puppy shook his head, "I need to be in close range with my partner to evolve, and our quest requires us to travel a long distance from here. Besides, I couldn't leave him in this state. Is this some sort of illness humans suffer from?"  
"Close," Carlos responded, "Psychological trauma, especially early in life, can cause incredible fears that could last forever."  
Plotmon looked incredibly worried and nuzzled up to James, who began holding onto him for dear life.  
"But this leaves us with another problem. You don't have a Digimon, Carlos," Armadimon said.  
Carlos shrugged, "I guess I'll find one. I mean, it's not like there's trouble lurking behind every bush."  
Suddenly, a nearby bush began to rustle.  
"Great job there, Carlos," Juana yelled, "All right, whatever's behind there better come out on the count of three. One, two, three!" Juana became worried as nothing happened, "Armadimon, get it."  
"_Rolling Stone!_" Armadimon curled up and barreled through the bush, sending a blue Digimon flying. It landed with an unceremonious thud on the nearby branch. It quickly scrambled over to Carlos, and latched onto his leg.  
"Pleasedon'thurtmePleasedon'thurtmePleasedon'thurtme," the little Digimon rambled as he shook with fear.  
Carlos and Juana sweatdropped.  
"I don't think he's a threat," Carlos said. Juana nodded. "Don't worry, little guy, we won't hurt you."  
The little Digimon wasn't convinced, "Ididn'tmeantoscareyou, IjustwantedtoseeyouI'veneverseenhumansbeforeandIwasn'tsupposedtobehere, butIjustwantedtoseeyou!"  
The little Digimon started crying.  
Carlos finally managed to pry the little Digimon off his leg, and finally got a good look at it. It looked a lot like a small bipedal dragon, and it came up to his knees.  
"Slow down there, I can't understand you. Here," He took out a chocolate bar, "Eat it. It's good."  
The blue dragon stared at the bar apprehensively, then took it and nibbled it. His eyes bulged, and he quickly gobbled up the rest of the bar.  
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! That was great!"  
"Glad you liked it. Now, can you tell us who you are, why you're here, and who sent you? And could you do it at normal speed?"  
He looked nervous, "My name's V-mon, and… Umm… I'm really not supposed to be here. I'm a servant of Lord Tonosama Gekomon. I have been since I got lost in the forest. He told us all not to surface when you guys came, he thought you would be scared by us, but I just wanted to see you. I've never seen humans before. You guys are like legends. There must be something big going on here. Why are you guys here?"  
Carlos took out his Digivice, "We're here to find my Digimon partner."  
V-mon's eyes went wider than when he ate the chocolate, "Can I be your Digimon partner, can I? I always wanted a human! Can I be your Digimon partner, please?"  
Juana looked sadly down at the dragon, "I'm sorry, we don't pick our Digimon partners. They're just ours. So, we can't just take you along."  
V-mon sagged down, his dreams crushed, "Oh, OK."  
"Maybe you can help us find my Digimon?"  
V-mon nodded dejectedly, "OK, I will. You were nice to me and gave me that yummy food after that mean Armadimon ran me over."  
Armadimon huffed, "Hey!"  
"The problem is that we don't know what type of Digimon my partner is. All I know is that he's in this area, and that he isn't a Deep Saver Digimon."  
V-mon started tugging at Carlos's pant leg, "I'm not a Deep Saver! Maybe I'm your partner!"  
Juana shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to try."  
Carlos nodded, "How would I be able to tell?"  
"V-mon, Carlos, touch the Digivice together," she said, not expecting anything to happen.  
Instead, the device burst into a luminescent blue light.  
V-mon started jumping around in joy, "Yay, yay, yay, yippee!" He jumped off the branch into the water below, "Come on in, have a swim! I'll show you the area."  
Juana nodded, "Go ahead, I'll take care of James."  
Carlos nodded back, and dove straight into the water. He and V-mon began doing some extensive swimming, splashing water and generally having a good time.  
Juana looked at James, who was sitting on the branch with a chokehold on Plotmon, and sighed, "I can't believe you."  
James looked at her, haggard, "Huh?"  
"How can someone who jumped off of a tree the size of a skyscraper be afraid of a little water?"  
"A little water can kill you, it's really painful, you start to struggle for air, but you breathe in only water…" He shivered and held Plotmon tighter.  
"…James…choking…" Plotmon managed to gasp.  
"OH! Sorry, Plotmon," he let his Digimon breathe, as he began clutching at his legs.  
Juana shook her head, "I go swimming all the time, it's fine."  
James looked at her, "I can't."  
As Juana looked at him, she decided to let the subject rest. Hell, just looking at James in this state made her afraid. There seemed to be no way to rationalize with him, so she decided to let it slide. It didn't mean, however, that this didn't irritate her.  
Plotmon looked worried, "This is bad. I won't be able to evolve."  
Juana looked shocked, "What do you mean?"  
"Digimentals work on a person's emotions and personality traits. James mastered the Digimental of Knowledge because he thinks rationally and methodically. In this state, with his mind worried, scared, and unclear, he won't be able to unlock the Digimental."  
Juana frowned, "Then we might really be in trouble, if something happens."  
Plotmon nodded, "Then we'll have to hope something bad doesn't happen."  
At that moment, something bad decided to happen. A tentacle appeared from behind the tree and snatched James up.  
"JAMES!" Juana, Plotmon, and Armadimon yelled.  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" came the deathly scream as the tentacle drew James back. The tentacle came from a huge red octopus like Digimon that jumped from a tree branch onto another  
"That's an Octomon, Adult level, with an Ink Gun attack! _Puppy Howling_!" Plotmon let loose a huge howl, that Octomon avoided easily by swinging to another branch.  
"Is that an octopus or a monkey?" Plotmon asked before firing off another Puppy Howling.  
"Damn, he's too far away for me to use a Rolling Stone," Armadimon cursed.  
"We've got to get James out of there, but how?"  
"_V-mon Head_!" V-mon leaped from the water and head butted Octomon right in its boneless head.  
James screamed bloody murder as the octopus crash-landed into the water, and sank beneath the waters.  
"JAMES!" Plotmon, Armadimon, and Juana yelled.  
Suddenly, the octopus was driven upward by the force of another head butt from V-mon. James was not in its tentacles, but soon, Carlos, dragging a barely conscious, stammering James reached up onto the lowest tree branch.  
Upon this, Octomon turned his sights on the two, attempting to jump onto them. V-mon tried to butt him again, but was swatted away by a tentacle.  
Carlos tried to climb the branch and take James to safety, but the Octomon slithered up faster. It shook James from Carlos's arms, leaving Carlos on the branch.  
Juana realized, "Carlos, it's because he's got the Digimental! Whoever sent Octomon wanted to make sure he wasn't going to be a problem!" Not like he would've caused a problem, anyway, Juana silently added, angrily.   
Octomon realized that the human he was holding seemed deathly afraid of the water, and thus scrambled up a nearby tree and held the fleshie threateningly over the water.  
"Surrender the Digimental, or your friend falls in."  
Plotmon yelled out, "He has the Digimental!" pointing to James.  
Octomon laughed a burbling laugh, "Do you take me for a fool? This human does not carry the Digimental, so he obviously doesn't have it! Give it to me, or your friend drowns!"  
V-mon swam to the tree, intent on catching James should he fall, but Octomon noticed him just as he approached.  
"_Ink Gun_!" He spat out a constant blast of dark ink at the dragon, causing him to sink.  
V-mon started to sink under the ink, until he was no longer visible.  
"V-mon!" Carlos jumped in instantly, intent on saving the blue dragon.  
_I can't believe I'm doing this_, Carlos thought in the back of his mind.  
_Would you wish it any other way?_ A voice asked of him.  
_I don't know. I'm caught up in this, I feel like I wasn't given a choice in the matter, like this was thrust on me_, Carlos responded, not too worried that he was conversing with his own mind.  
_If you were given a choice, would you change your mind?_  
Carlos instantly knew the answer, _No, from the moment James and Juana told me their mission I knew I needed to be there. I mean, these creatures were in danger. What kind of person would I be if I left anyone in danger? How could I call myself human if I wasn't humane? If I can possibly help, it's my duty to help._  
The voice in his head seemed pleased, _Excellent. You have earned the Digimental of Faithfulness, Carlos DeCosta. Use it to fulfill your duty._  
Suddenly, both Carlos and V-mon were caught in a whirlpool. Before they had the time to become worried, they were sucked rather painfully into a giant glowing air bubble, which contained a small egg shaped metal object that had a silver cross-like symbol on it and what appeared to be a harpoon on top of it.  
"Carlos, is that a Digimental?" V-mon, who had never seen such a thing, only hearing stories as a hatchling, asked.  
"Yes! Now you can evolve like Plotmon can!"  
"Great, let's go and save James!"  
"Digimental up!"  
"_V-mon, armor evolve…_" V-mon combined with the Digimental, releasing a spray of bubbling water, which coalesced into a humanoid form. Carlos swore he heard a dolphin's cry before the water dissipated. The creature that appeared was about three meters long. It was covered in blue armor. Its three fingered hands were long and sharp, on finlike arms. It had a silver helmet that obscured its face and eyes, but a shock of orange hair grew from the back. From its waist down, it resembled a dolphin's tail, long and thick.  
"_…The devotion of the deep, Depthmon!_" He grabbed Carlos in one arm and swam with supernatural speed to the surface.  
Meanwhile, Octomon grew tired of the human's stubbornness and simply let James go over the water. James screamed like a girl as he waited for impact, barely controlling his sphincter.  
Depthmon surged upward, caught James, and hovered over to the branch where Juana, Plotmon, and Armadimon were staring at the merman with jaws hanging. Carlos jumped onto the branch and Depthmon carefully placed James onto the branch.  
"I'll be right back," Depthmon flashed the thumbs up sign and took off towards the octopus, "_Bubble Bomb_!" he formed a blue orb in his hands and hurled it at Octomon. It burst in a huge explosion of water, causing the octopus immense pain.  
"Brother'll be feeling that in the morning!" Plotmon commented, wincing.  
Armadimon looked at him funnily, "What do you mean?"  
"Did you see that one tentacle get crushed?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Well, that's a _particular_ tentacle."  
"….EWW!"  
"_Bubble Bomb_!" Depthmon hurled orb after orb at Octomon, until finally, it seemed to give up.  
"_Sargasso Drag_!" Several cables sprouted from Depthmon's chest, latching onto Octomon. He hurled Octomon into a large tree, resulting in a huge vibration. The Octomon coughed a device similar to what Fuugamon had, and reverted to a small clamshell type of thing.  
"Shakomon, you were Octomon?" Depthmon asked.  
"Hssst. Argh! I feel like I got slammed shell-open into a coral reef. I…" he then realized who he was talking to, "Who in Poseidon's name are you?"  
"Don't recognize your old pal V-mon?" Depthmon chuckled.  
"…You've gotta be kidding me! You evolved? How?"  
"Look over there," he pointed a webbed finger at the group of humans, to which Carlos waved.  
"You've got a partner! Lucky."  
"You're telling me. Now, let's get you back to Tonosama Gekomon."  
"**There is no need.**" A voice bubbled out of the water, before a massive red bullfrog with trumpet horns coming out of its back appeared.  
"Master…" Depthmon bowed, a hard thing for one with a fishlike body to do.  
"There is no need, young one. I am no longer your master…" He turned to Carlos, "As much as I don't want to lose my herald, I cannot deny his greater destiny. And you are the first creature to loose the Digimental from the lakebed. I am honored by your presence."  
Carlos felt the need to bow before such a magnificent creature, "The honor is all mine."  
"Then go and fulfill your duty. Forces have been encroaching on my little kingdom for quite some time, and I entrust you and your friends to stop them."  
"I will."  
"And keep that servant of mine in line. He's a bit…enthusiastic."  
"I will, thank you."  
"And do something about your friend there, it's just pitiful to see someone as afraid of water as he is."  
"…I'll see what I can do."  
"And, if you have some spare time, there's a bit of a nasty infestation of Flymon you might be able to take care of–"  
"OK! I get it. What's next, do your laundry and make sure your pillows are fluffed?"  
"Heh, fine. Go now. And know that you and your kind will always find sanctuary in my little kingdom."  
The massive frog scooped up Shakomon and submerged into the murky water. Depthmon hovered towards Carlos before glowing brightly as a blue light shot into Carlos's vest, forming a D-Terminal.  
Juana looked back in shock, the giant frog Digimon was an impressive sight. James, still stammering, didn't notice.  
  
  
It was amazing how well a parent knows their child. The minute that Juana and Carlos appeared in the McConnell's apartment, with a deeply breathing, obviously shaken James in tow, Mr. McConnell immediately said, "There was water involved, wasn't there?" in English.  
Juana, Carlos, and the Digimon nodded.  
McConnell sighed, "It usually takes a while for him to snap out of it. Get him to his bed and put on Raiders of the Lost Ark and he's fine before the boulder starts rolling down."  
Juana shook her head, "Guess that's what you meant when you mentioned the snakes."  
James managed a shaky chuckle, "Wonder if the Digital World has water snakes."  
The Digimon looked nervously at each other as the humans lay James on his bed, "Nobody mention the Seadramon family," Plotmon whispered.  
V-mon looked sort of confused, "Why doesn't he like water? Does it weaken him? Does he use fire attacks?"  
Plotmon and Armadimon looked at each other nervously, "Ask Carlos. Later."  
V-mon nodded, "OK!"  
The quadrupeds let out a relieved sigh.  
Juana looked at McConnell, "You seem a bit uncaring that James is in this state."  
"He does this whenever there's any large, or small, body of water. It's hard to care after this has happened so many times before."  
Juana patted James's shoulder, "We have to fix this."  
Carlos casually looked at the clock and said, "I should be going, or my parents will be furious."  
Juana nodded, and said, "I think I'll watch."  
Carlos laughed, "Wish I could. Instead I've got to go home and watch my annoying little brother."  
Juana laughed, "Good luck."  
Plotmon and Armadimon climbed onto the bed, anxious to see what on Earth they were talking about back at the village.  
Juana moved the desk chair next to the bed so she could watch. She could follow the movie pretty well without translation, but didn't mind it much when James woke up, on cue, and began interpreting unfamiliar words for her.  
  
  
This has been an interesting day.  
In many ways, I feel like I shouldn't want another duty shoved onto me. I've been burdened with the duty of taking over the business and taking care of my little brother. But, for once, I feel like I chose this, like this duty is mine and mine alone. It feels like destiny that I chose, rather than destiny that was thrust upon me.  
Sometimes I wish my father wasn't rich. Then maybe I wouldn't be forced into the business like I am now, and maybe Mom and Dad would take care of Pedro more, instead of running the company.   
Luckily, having a big house means it was easier to smuggle V-mon into the house. James and Juana's families can handle Digimon, but mine can't. My parents know nothing but business and Pedro would immediately want one of his own.  
I'm glad to be working with James and Juana. I've found that the really wealthy kids are generally those with the worst personalities, and I've tried my damndest not to be like them. I always found that those lowest on the social scale are the better ones; Juana is the most genuinely kind person I know and James is the first person I've met who comes to school with a desire to learn. I really like them. I won't bring them over to the house; most people act differently when they learn I'm rich.  
I need a swim. I'll bring V-mon down to the pool. He's going to love it.  
  
- From the Diary of Carlos DeCosta  
  
  
Now here's the legal mumbo jumbo:  
Digimon owned by Toei, blah blah blah.   
Used without permission, yadda yadda yadda.  
Set in Lord Archive's Diaries Universe, so on, so forth.  
Approved and edited by Lord Archive, same old, same old.  
For the Portuguese part, James says "Although, I understand Portuguese more easily than you would think." The translation was courtesy of Babelfish, because I don't speak Portuguese (I am fairly fluent in Spanish, though.).  
James speaks Portuguese better than a normal American thanks to a really strict private instructor. His dad, however, knows little if any Portuguese. It's easier to learn a new language if you're younger. Mr. McConnell will speak little, if any Portuguese, and that which he does speak will be broken. If it is not mentioned, assume he is speaking in English. Juana and Carlos can understand and speak English on a very limited basis. The Digimon are bilingual, but will, unless specified, speak Portuguese.  
James's agility in the previous volume was mostly due to the adrenaline rush. In normal situations, don't expect the same vine-swinger.  
The team is almost complete…  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The edited version of this corrects several mistakes pointed out to me by Breno Oliveira and Persona (check out Persona's fic, South Digimon Diaries, either at Fanfiction.net or the Diaries homepage).  
First, "gringo" is more of a Mexican term than a South American one. I replaced it with "Yankee" as per Persona's suggestion  
Next, one of the accents on James's Portuguese was wrong. I corrected it.  
Lastly, due to a stupid mistake on my part, Plotmon used the imperial sytem of measurement (feet) rather than the metric system he should've used if he were in South America.  
  
  



	3. Brother's Keeper

**Jungle Diaries, Volume III: Brother's Keeper**  
By Ryan Griffin  
  
Carlos DeCosta sat at his desk in his room, attempting to do his homework, a task made nearly impossible by the blue creature pestering him.  
"Come on, Carlos, let's go out and do something FUN!" the blue dragon whined.  
"I told you, V-mon, I have to do this work before we can go out and have fun," Carlos chastised his partner.  
V-mon sagged, "But you've been working forever…"  
Carlos looked at the clock and chuckled. He had only been doing his work for about an hour. Unfortunately, the little Digimon didn't have a clear grasp on the concept of time. To him, Carlos could have been working for over a million years.  
"V-mon, I promise that we'll–" just then, Carlos heard footsteps, "Someone's coming! Hide under the desk, and don't make a sound!" Carlos shoved a protesting V-mon under the desk. V-mon quickly became silent as the door opened, revealing Carlos's father.  
"Ah, Carlos, I was looking for you. Who were you talking to?" his father stepped into the room.  
Carlos moved his chair to obscure V-mon from sight; "I was just reciting some of my notes, to help me memorize them for a test."  
"Just what I like to hear, son. Now, I have something very important that you must know. Your mother and I are going to be taking a trip to Sao Paulo to for business reasons…"  
This had happened enough times that Carlos knew what his father was going to say. It didn't help.  
"… So, you are going to have to look after Pedro for the upcoming week."  
Carlos wanted to bang his head on the desk. There was nothing in his mind that was worse than looking after his younger brother.  
"I know this is an inconvenience to you, but you know that we expect you to be a good role model for Pedro. Are there any problems?"  
Carlos couldn't contain himself, "Yes, there are problems!"  
His father blinked, not expecting him to say that, "Oh, is there?"  
Carlos struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn't boggle his father's mind, or send himself on a one way trip to an insane asylum, "Err, a couple of friends and I have formed a study group, and I wouldn't want Pedro to distract us," he said, hoping he had convinced his father. It was sort of true. He had decided to work on schoolwork with James and Juana when the three weren't in the Digital World.  
"Oh," his father seemed to mull this over, "Well, it would be nice if you and your friends could help your little brother. He doesn't have the best grades."  
"But Dad, have you considered the fact that maybe, when my friends and I are hanging out, that I wouldn't want Pedro to be hanging around. Maybe I don't want Pedro to be there when my friends and I are doing stuff."  
His father looked at him, "If there's anything you're doing that you don't want your brother there for, you shouldn't be doing it. This discussion is over. I will see you over dinner."  
He left.  
Carlos sat in his seat, dumbfounded. V-mon came out from under the desk, coughing, "What's wrong Carlos?"  
"I am going to have a VERY unpleasant week…"  
  
*********************************************  
  
"What do you mean you can't go to the Digital World this week?" James had a confused look on his face. It was just after school, and the classroom had mostly cleared out.  
Carlos shook his head, "I wish I could. I really do, but I've got to watch my little brother. If I could go with you, I would."  
Juana rolled her eyes, "Carlos, when we first told you about the Digimon, we weren't doing so to be friendly. We were actively recruiting you."  
James nodded, "You seemed to have an open mind, enough to speak with me, anyway, and I think that's one of the main qualities in becoming a Chosen. Perhaps your brother has similar qualities, and he too would become partnered to a Digimon."  
Carlos thought of how to properly phrase what he was saying, "Well, I don't think so. Pedro only cares about his comics and his video games. His attention span is about that of a flea. I don't think he'd be a very good addition to our little army."  
James blinked, "What was that last word again?"  
"You mean 'army'?" James nodded, as Carlos realized, "Oh, you need a translation! I think the English word is '_exército_.'"  
James nodded, "Ah! I forgot! Thank you very much."  
Carlos shook his head, "No problem, sometimes I forget you aren't a native speaker. You seem pretty adept at the language."  
James scratched the back of his head in embarrassed pride and didn't respond.  
Juana interrupted, "We're getting off subject here. We need you to go with us. I haven't found a Digimental yet and we need you in case we happen to come across a puddle."  
"Hey!" James looked hurt, then noticed Juana's smirk and realized she was kidding, "In all seriousness, though, we do need you. I wish I were more reliable, but I just freeze up when I come across," he gulped, "water. Besides, the nature of your armor evolution would be better in that sort of situation even without my," he paused, "hydrophobia. I don't know if that's the translation…"  
Carlos nodded, "It is. I'm sorry, but my father insisted I watch him, and that means I watch him. And by watch him that means–"  
"CARLOS!"  
"…He's going to be on my back at every moment," Carlos palmed his forehead as a small kid entered the room. He looked exactly like Carlos, minus about two feet in height. His hair was a bit spikier, obviously he put more work into it, and his uniform was different as he was in a younger class. But it was obvious that the two were related.  
"Hey, what's going on here?" Pedro looked at his brother and his friends, "Are you the friends Carlos said he didn't want me meeting?"  
Carlos grumbled. His brother always told the truth, and told it unbidden.  
James smiled, "I guess we must be. My name is James McConnell."  
Pedro blinked, "That's not a Brazilian name? Are you an American?"  
James nodded.  
"My dad says that America is a huge leech that's festering on the backside of the international community," Pedro said, "I don't know what that means. Do you know?"  
James actually laughed, "It's difficult to explain. But you're old man's right," he turned to Carlos, "Cute kid. What is he, five?"  
Carlos glared, "Ten."  
James blinked, "Really?"  
Juana shook Pedro's hand, "I'm Juana Lopes, nice to meet you."  
Pedro looked at her, "Are you a Native?"  
Juana nodded slowly, and before Pedro could say anything more, Carlos had firmly clamped his hand over his brother's mouth  
"Well, hate to wrap this up, but I really must get back home…" Carlos began to walk off, leading Pedro off and un-clamping his mouth.  
"Good thing, I think the blue lizard you have in your room is getting hungry."  
Carlos stopped dead, "You know about him?!"  
Pedro nodded, "Yeah! I saw him when you were talking with dad before he left! He was cool! And he could talk! Where'd you get him?!"  
James whispered to Juana, "Open mind."  
Juana nodded, "A bit too open if you ask me."  
James shrugged, "Might help him deal with it, he'd probably be better at it than we would."  
Pedro looked blankly, "What are they talking about?"  
Carlos paled, "Umm…"  
James answered for him; "We want to see if you can get a creature like your brother's."  
Pedro beamed, "Really!"  
James waved his finger and hoped the gesture wasn't obscene or untranslatable, "We're not making any promises, but…"  
Pedro jumped up and down, "Thank you! He's so cool! Like something out of a TV show!" He then gave some thought, "I'm sorry if I said something bad about America! I like America, they make the best cartoons!"  
James bit his tongue about his personal view on cartoons, as he was just a little kid. But he'd still try and convert him away from the shiny little idiot making pacifiers; he'd just do it slowly. Before the year was out, he was going to show this kid _Dr. Strangelove_.  
Juana was smiling. Pedro was a cute little kid, and he was very bright eyed and bushy tailed. He'd make a good recruit.  
Carlos's world collapsed as he realized he was outvoted. His brother was going to join them, whether he wanted him too or not.  
  
*********************************************  
  
Carlos grumbled as he went home to change and pick up V-mon.  
"What's wrong?" the baby dragon asked, disturbed that his partner was so angry.  
"Didn't I tell you not to talk to anyone here?"  
V-mon looked hurt, "I'm sorry, but he poked me and it hurt so I said 'Ow, don't do that!' I didn't mean to make you mad."  
Carlos softened, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him. He knows not to be snooping around in here! But he never listens! And now he's going to jump feet first into a world that's really dangerous! And I'll have to look after him every step of the way!" he mumbled something unintelligible and likely obscene, "I just hope he doesn't get a Digivice when he goes to James's house," he sighed, "Damn it, what the hell is that little brat thinking?"  
  
*********************************************  
  
At the moment, Pedro was also thinking of his brother.  
His brother had always been kind of mean to him. He didn't know why he would feel this way. He really didn't know why Carlos kept him at an arm's length. He had seen other kids and the way they acted with their older brothers, so he knew that Carlos wasn't acting like a regular big brother. So, there had to be a problem.   
Now, there wasn't a problem with Pedro. Pedro knew he was normal. So the problem had to be on Carlos's end. Pedro, willing to do anything to spend time with his older brother, decided that he had to be more like Carlos to make him like him. So, Pedro began to try and be more like his brother. Of course, unbeknownst to Pedro, this behavior did nothing more than to increase Carlos's wish to have nothing to do with his little brother.  
Now, of course, this was something really good. Carlos had a strange creature, and he could tell that his new friends also had some. If he got one, he'd be part of their team, and maybe, for the first time, his brother would be nice to him.  
  
*********************************************  
  
By the time that Pedro had met Plotmon and Armadimon and been filled in on the group's adventures, his eyes were as wide as saucers. Carlos noted that he was sitting still for the first time in his life.  
"That… is… so… COOL! You're superheroes!"  
James blinked, "Well…" He personally never thought of that.  
"You are, you get to travel to other dimensions and fight evil! And you jump around through trees and dive into ponds, man that sounds like a BLAST!"  
Carlos palmed his face again, his little brother once again proving an embarrassment.  
James became serious, "It sounds like fun, but the truth is that it's REALLY dangerous. I could've died twice; it was only pure dumb luck that saved me."  
"But you WERE saved, you're a superhero! Superheroes don't die!"  
Juana laughed. The kid was naive, but enthusiastic, "You've got some guts, Pedro! I think you'll be a good addition to the team."  
Pedro beamed and Carlos grimaced.  
James walked over to his laptop computer, "Let's see if the Digital World agrees with us," and apparently it did, because once the computer booted up, a beam of light shot out of it and struck Pedro's hand. He gasped, then beamed brighter than ever as a device exactly like the others', only with white where the others' had colors, formed in his hand. His resulting cheer startled those in neighboring buildings.  
Carlos stood in horror, "No way, no FUCKING WAY!"  
His obscenities, however, weren't heard by his teammates, as they had entered the portal into the Digital World. He quickly raised his own Digivice and he and V-mon were sucked in as well.  
  
*********************************************  
  
James originally thought the group's Digital World outfits were all very outlandish. His own outfit, a combination of Indiana Jones and the Crocodile Hunter, included more pockets then could ever be deemed necessary, a shirt with a globe and the words "Fragile, Handle With Care" written in both English and Portuguese, and, of all things, a whip, which made James wonder about how obsessed he truly was with the Harrison Ford movie. Juana's outfit was entirely made of deerskin, yet resembled less of a South American Indian's clothing than what some American would dress up as thinking she was wearing a traditional Native American outfit. Her outfit also included a quiver of arrows, a blowgun, and am oddly beautiful necklace made of bird feathers. James knew Juana was as adept with the weapons as he was with his whip, as in not at all. And Carlos's clothes looked like a combination of a lifeguard and Michael J. Fox's outfit in the Back to the Future movies, with a huge puffy vest that James was sure was just for decoration, but wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be used as a flotation device. All in all, they were a pretty ridiculous looking group.  
Compared to Pedro's outfit, however, they all looked completely normal.  
Pedro was wearing an overstuffed flight jacket that looked like something out of World War II, complete with a scarf and a goggled flight helmet. His pants, too, were overstuffed, containing puffed out sides. His boots were exactly lifted from the Power Rangers series, and his gloves looked like a combination of Power Rangers and Spiderman. In James's opinion, as well as the rest of his group, it was a superfluous and completely useless outfit.  
And Pedro couldn't have been happier with it.  
"Oh my God! Look at this! And these! And this! This is great! I mean, these boots…" he kept on his babbling.  
Carlos shook his head.   
James walked up to him, "You know who he reminds me of?"  
Carlos shook his head.  
"V-mon" James thumbed over to the blue Digimon, who, along with Plotmon and Armadimon, was trying to get Pedro to calm down and as such not disturb the locals.  
Carlos's mouth hung open, "You're kidding me."  
"No. He's acting a lot like V-mon did when he first met you, very hyper and excited. Maybe it's no coincidence that he's your partner. The two of you are like brothers," he walked off to join Juana and the Digimon.  
Carlos stood in silent shock, realizing that James was right. His brother and his partner were indeed very similar. But V-mon never annoyed him. It was like, like…  
_Like the only reason I don't mind V-mon is because I haven't lived with him all my life_, Carlos thought, _Maybe the only reason I'm not snapping at V-mon is because he's not my brother._  
Carlos was unable to think about it much more, as he had to run to catch up to the group.  
Meanwhile, Pedro was wandering the city, with one thing on his mind…  
"I wonder if HE'S my partner," he pointed.  
Armadimon shook her head, "Floramon is a female."  
Pedro pouted, "Oh. I don't want a girl partner. Hmm, how about HIM?!"  
Plotmon shook his head, "Nanimon's a grouch, and he's weak for an adult Digimon. Besides, your Digivice isn't reacting."  
Pedro pouted, but then perked up as he found the Digimon that he was SURE had to be his partner. He was tall, and looked strong and agile. This was the PERFECT Digimon for him. He ran towards this Digimon.  
Plotmon looked ahead, "Pedro, where are you…" he then saw who Pedro was running towards, "Oh NO!" He then began barreling at top speed, his friends right behind him.  
Pedro tried to get the attention of the Digimon, tapping him, and then finally resorting to pulling on the creature's tail. This worked, but it turned out for the worst, as the creature's harsh glare was upon him. Pedro managed to spit out his words.  
"Umm, I was wondering, are you my partner?"  
The creature didn't respond, nor did Pedro let go of the creature's tail.  
Finally, the partnered Digimon managed to catch up to Pedro, but were too late.  
"Renamon," Plotmon started nervously, "I see you and Pedro have met…"  
"Plotmon," Renamon's cold glare turned towards the puppy, "I assume this human came here of YOUR accord."  
Plotmon wanted to shake the fox. It was as though he believed that Plotmon was conspiring to undermine him, "We all did, us and our humans."  
"And you brought this thing here, hoping that I may have a human shackled to me as you have?!" Renamon turned to Pedro, a wild stare in his eyes and Pedro began to get nervous, "No, that shall not be done, I will kill him first!"  
He was almost ready to do that, but before his claws could reach Pedro, a staff blocked them.  
"Renamon, I do not think this is the way our Guard Captain should act. Leave the human alone. And you," Wizarmon turned to Pedro, "I would suggest you let go of his tail."  
Pedro stupidly realized he was, indeed, gripping onto Renamon's tail, and let go of it as though it was on fire. Renamon growled low and stalked off.  
"You need to be more vigilant, human," Wizarmon scolded, "If I were a few seconds slower, I would be talking to your corpse. Renamon is not a Digimon to be trifled with," his gaze then became softer, "You remind me a great deal of the human Carlos…"  
"He's my brother."  
"Ah, siblings. Such an occurrence is rare here, but not unheard of. I suppose it occurs more often in humans."  
Pedro was about to ask what he meant, but at that moment, James, Juana, and Carlos ran up to him.  
James immediately asked, "Wizarmon, what's going on?"  
"Just another skirmish with Renamon," Wizarmon answered.  
"RENAMON! That psychotic?! Pedro, he was part of my welcoming committee into this world, and his first words were "I say we kill him and get it over with!'"  
Pedro was about to respond, when Carlos came up to him.  
"Carlos, I–"  
SMACK!  
Pedro hit the floor, or tree branch as it were, and looked up at his older brother, who just backhanded him.  
"Pedro, I have HAD it! You're always getting your nose in where it shouldn't belong! You find V-mon and practically BEG to get a Digimon of your own. By the action of God in what I can only call total insanity, he allowed you to come in here, and you immediately get into trouble. I can't always bail you out if you get your stupid ass into trouble like this! And what do you think Mom and Dad will do if they find out you were killed because of your own colossal stupidity?!"  
Pedro paused, "I…I…"  
"Pedro, you DON'T belong here! You need to realize that! You can't go around as your usual stupid self or you'll be killed. I need you to go home, and forget about all this!"  
Pedro simply lay down, slumped.  
Finally, he got up, obscuring his eyes, so that the tears welling up in them couldn't be seen. He took in a deep breath…  
Then he kicked Carlos in the shins and ran off.  
Carlos went down, rubbing his knee in pain. James and Juana started to take off after Pedro, but stopped when they realized Carlos was making no attempt to get up and follow them.  
"Carlos, we have to get going!" Juana yelled at him, "If he goes off on his own, who knows what will–"  
"Let him go."  
James and Juana were shocked. Carlos stood up.  
"Maybe getting lost and seriously hurt will teach him a thing or two."  
Juana paled, "You cannot be serious!"  
"I've never had a younger sibling, but I'm reasonably sure that this isn't in the etiquette," James seemed worried.  
"I don't care. He shouldn't be here, but he never listens to me! I mean, look at Pedro! He's whiny and hyperactive and annoying! He's clingy and he turns up everywhere I go! He's like a… like a…"  
"A normal ten-year-old boy who wants to spend time with his older brother?" Juana supplied.  
"Yeah… Hey!"  
"Look Carlos, it doesn't matter! Like it or not, Pedro is your responsibility, and you have to take care of him," James surmised.  
"Why? Why do I have to look after him?!" Carlos questioned James.  
"It's one of the things you need in order to open your Digimental," James summarized.  
Carlos sputtered for a bit, and then realized he was defeated.  
"Now, if you're done arguing, I think we need to go find your brother," Armadimon said. Plotmon and V-mon nodded.  
Carlos nodded weakly, and the six of them ran off in the direction Pedro ran.  
  
*********************************************  
  
Meanwhile, Pedro's anger had disappeared. It was replaced with a much different and currently more powerful emotion: worry. He had managed to get himself quite lost among the treetops, and if he ran into a creature like Renamon, he was screwed.  
He began to also worry if Carlos really meant what he said. Wait, that was stupid, of course he did. It was his fault, for believing stupidly that anything he could do would ever melt his brother's icy heart.  
His worry soon turned into curiosity as he approached some kind of weird string. It looked really strong. He touched it, and to his surprise, it was quite sticky. He peeled it off with some difficulty. Looking around, he saw more of them. Finally, he looked up, and found a gigantic representation of a spider web.  
Pedro stared in awe, but something clicked in his brain a little too late. Gigantic spider webs probably meant there were…  
"RAAAAAR!"  
GIGANTIC SPIDERS!  
Quicker than should have been possible, a spider bigger than ever should have been possible crawled down to where Pedro stood. It stared him down with eight hungry eyes.  
Pedro nearly soiled himself as he realized he couldn't outrun the thing. It advanced closer, and closer, until…  
"_Sticky Net_!" Pedro found himself stuck to a similar web, then suddenly pulled from the branch into midair.  
_Did Spiderman just save me?_ Pedro thought right before he stopped swinging. He was on a branch farther away. He broke free of the netting and stood up when a small green caterpillar landed next to him.  
"We have to get away from him! I can help you out! Hold onto me!" Pedro nodded, and did as the caterpillar said.  
The creature shot out another netting, which caught on another branch. The two of them swung through the air in the same way as a tomato thrown towards a politician.  
Pedro tried not to scream as the two of them swung through the air. He failed though, as the worm cut off the netting and the two began to plummet like an anvil in a Looney Tunes cartoon.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH…aaah!" A scream followed by a sigh as the worm released another net, caught another branch, and the two began swinging again.  
"This is actually pretty fun!" Pedro exclaimed. The worm nodded, unable to talk due to the string coming out of his mouth. A few more nets later, and the two landed safely on a branch.  
"Good thing I got you away from Dokugumon before he ate you. He's not a nice Digimon."  
"I figured. Thanks a lot. What's your name?"  
"I'm Wormmon. What's yours?"  
"Pedro."  
"Pedromon? That's a weird name," Wormmon looked at him funnily.  
"No, I'm not a Digimon, I'm a human. So my name doesn't end in mon."  
"A human? What's that?"  
"Well… I come from a different world from this one. I came here because I'm a Chosen Child."  
"A Chosen Child? I don't understand," Wormmon looked really confused.  
"Well, there's a Digimon around here that's my partner. He and I are linked, so that I can make him stronger and fight bad guys."  
"Oh, you mean you do what I do. I save Digimon from Dokugumon, so you and your partner save other Digimon."  
"Right. Actually, I don't know who my partner is. Are you my partner?"  
Wormmon scratched his head with one of his ten pods, "I don't know if I am. You look familiar, but I've never seen you before."  
Pedro thought about it. How would he know if a Digimon was his partner or not? Wait! "I think it has something to do with this," he took out his Digivice, knelt down, and showed it to Wormmon.  
Wormmon looked at it, "It's pretty," he touched it with his pod, and it exploded in white light.  
Pedro remembered from the others, that was what the device did if a Digimon was his partner, "YES! You're my partner!"  
Wormmon blinked, "I am? I AM!" He looked happy, and then confused, "Umm, what does this mean?"  
"Well, now we're going to be superheroes!" Pedro seemed really happy, until he realized that Wormmon had no idea what he was saying, "Err, I mean that we'll get to save a lot of people, err, Digimon from bad guys!"  
"How are we going to do that?"  
"Well, we have to unlock a Digimental first, like my brother and his friend James did, so you can evolve into a stronger form! I need to find one and I'll unlock its trait. Digimentals work on a certain virtue, like Knowledge or Faithfulness, so I need to find one and unlock its virtue. The problem is…" Pedro sighed, "I don't know what virtue I'd unlock."  
Wormmon looked at him, "Don't worry, I'm sure you're a very good person! You'll have some kind of virtue that'll make me turn into a super-powered Digimon!"  
Pedro nodded, "Yeah, we'll be the best team ever, and fight bad guys! We'll be a team, Wormmon and Pedro, and all evildoers will curse our names."  
Wormmon nodded, "Sounds great! I always wanted to fight evil! I just wasn't strong enough!" He made some punches at imaginary villains with his pods.  
Pedro laughed. _I think this is the start of a great friendship. He seems like an interesting little Digimon. And if I'm partnered to him, no one, not even Carlos can take him away from me._  
Then he thought more about Carlos, _Maybe I've been going about this all wrong. I try to be more like Carlos, but he just pushes me away. I guess being more like Carlos would mean I would want nothing to do with him._  
_Why does Carlos hate me so much… Is he a bad person? Is that why?_  
_Well then, it looks like I'll just have to be a good person, the best person there is! I'll be such a shining beacon of virtue that it would inspire everyone around me, including Carlos. Then he may stop being such a bad person!_  
To Pedro's great surprise, a voice inside him laughed.  
_Very well, little one. You have great aspirations and a heart that is pure. I happily grant my Light upon you._  
Suddenly, the sky seemed to explode in a flash, and Pedro and Wormmon had to block their eyes, and suddenly, floating before them, was a strange white sphere. Pedro took it in his hands.  
"Pedro, what is this?" Wormmon gazed in wonder.  
"I think it's a Digimental, but I don't know how I activated it, or what trait it is."  
"This can make me stronger, right? So how do we do it?"  
Pedro was about to answer, but was cut off by screams.  
Wormmon tensed, "Dokugumon has someone!"  
Pedro recognized the voices, "The others! They must have been looking for me!"  
Wormmon blinked, "We have to hurry or Dokugumon might eat them!"  
Pedro focused on the sphere, the thoughts that he was thinking before the Digimental appeared, "I want to be the best person I can possibly be. I want to be a shining example of goodness. I want to be such a good person that my brother will respect me and love me, even though he hates me now."  
The sphere burst into white light, as did Wormmon.  
"_Wormmon, armor evolve…_" The Digimental and the caterpillar merged into one and shone with a brilliance that was blinding. Feathers appeared over the light before it exploded into a long white snake, over 3 meters long, covered in pure white, red, and golden armor. From his armor appeared green feathers, most noticeable as a shock of what looked like hair from his helmet plate. And, magnificently, two huge wings unfolded from his head as though they were ears. Finally, two clear blue eyes opened from the blackness of the helmet.  
"_The shining serpent… Coatlmon!_"  
He lowered his head down to his partner and said, "Get on, we need to save your friends."  
Pedro got on, and almost fell from Coatlmon's undulating flight style. Once he got used to it, however, he really liked it. It resembled a roller coaster ride.  
Coatlmon was feeling very nice. This power was something he'd never felt before. Now, maybe, he could finally end the trouble Dokugumon had been causing.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"Butterflymon!" James yelled.  
Butterflymon would have responded, but he was currently trying frantically to avoid the poisoned cobwebs that Dokugumon was shooting out its mouth.  
Juana and Armadimon cursed that they didn't have a Digimental.  
Carlos was cursing his Digimental, "Digimental UP, DAMMIT!"  
V-mon was wincing, "I know it's bad, Carlos, but do you need to swear?"  
"YES! DIGIMENTAL FUCKING UP!" Carlos shook his fist as his D-Terminal showed no response.  
Butterflymon summoned his Sweet Thistle and began slicing up the webs as they came, finally reaching close enough.  
"_Sweet Pheromone!_" The golden insect called as his wings began spreading out pollen, covering Dokugumon completely.  
"That should…" He stopped as Dokugumon began to rage towards Butterflymon.  
James held his head in his hands, "Mental note: Sweet Pheromone attacks have an opposite effect on Dokugumon," he then noticed Dokugumon's target: Carlos, who was currently making a show of himself by pounding on his non-functional D-Terminal.  
Butterflymon swooped in front of him, "_Sweet_– AAAAAAGH!" Dokugumon shot the butterfly point blank. He rocketed straight into Dokugumon's web.  
The spider looked on hungrily as he scrambled to his meal.  
"BUTTERFLYMON!" James cried, unable to do anything.  
Butterflymon struggled impotently against the webbing, until suddenly…  
SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!  
The bladed tail of a white flying serpent cut the ropes. Butterflymon was in shock until he realized that Pedro was on the serpent's back.  
"Hey guys! I found my partner and my Digimental! Pretty cool, huh?"  
Carlos paled, "My psychotic little brother has a powerful Digimon. I want to run for my life."  
Coatlmon ducked through to reach Dokugumon, "Your terror and cannibalism ends now!"  
Dokugumon didn't understand a word, but recognized the threat and roared in fury.  
"_Fossil Wave!_" Coatlmon opened his mouth and a stream of gray wind blasted towards Dokugumon, rendering him inert. Coatlmon swooped down, and began slapping him with the flat of his tail blade. Unfortunately, Dokugumon woke up after a few smacks and lunged towards the snake, who flew away. Unfortunately, the sudden movement jostled Pedro and he fell off, plummeting towards the ground.  
"Pedro, NO!" as he saw Pedro fall, all of Carlos's earlier annoyance disappeared, and his D-Terminal exploded in blue light.  
"_V-mon, armor evolve… devotion of the deep, Depthmon!_" The merman Digimon blasted his way over to the plummeting Pedro, grabbed him, and used his bubble jets to propel himself upwards, dropping Pedro off by his brother.  
Pedro stared at his brother, "You saved me?"  
Carlos looked shocked, "Of course! I don't want to see you die!"  
Pedro looked up. Had he succeeded?  
Carlos shook his head, "Why the hell did you need to come here anyway. You should have just stayed home."  
Pedro sunk. He hadn't succeeded. His brother didn't want him dead. That didn't mean he necessarily loved him, as a brother should.  
"_Bubble Bomb!_" Depthmon fired off a pressure bomb that hit Dokugumon right in the abdomen. The spider howled in pain.  
"_Freeze Wave!_" Coatlmon sent out a blue wave of air this time, and Dokugumon became frozen in a block of ice.  
"_Sargasso Drag!_" red cables shot out of Depthmon's chest, and he hurled Dokugumon towards Butterflymon.  
"_Sweet Thistle!_" Butterflymon formed the sugar stick and whacked it at Dokugumon, who sailed towards a lower branch, and shattered the ice on impact. Dokugumon, however, was relatively unharmed. He coughed up a piece of electronics, which shot upwards and into Juana's hands. Dokugumon reverted to a small green worm called Dokunemon and scampered away.  
"Another one of these Circuits," James shook his head, "Our enemy must be upping the stakes.  
The humans and Digimon regrouped on a single branch. Butterflymon, Depthmon, and Coatlmon shrunk back down to their Child forms, and Pedro gawked at his new D-Terminal.  
"That was great! The flying! The beams you shot out! You are the coolest Digimon ever, Wormmon!" Pedro was his usual hyper self.  
James clapped his hand on Pedro's shoulder, "Welcome to the team, guys. Thanks for saving Butterflymon back there."  
Plotmon nodded, "I'd be dead if not for you two."  
Pedro jumped for joy, throwing Wormmon in the air and catching him.  
Juana giggled and James smiled. Their Digimon were glad that neither of their partners were inclined to do that, or, in the case of Armadimon, even physically capable of doing so.  
Carlos was still miffed about his brother joining the team, but he wasn't quite as annoyed.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"Damn it, this assignment is so biased it's not funny! Does she do this all the time, or is this because she finally has an American to pick on?!" James lamented.  
"Little of column A, little of column B," Juana said, "It's not that bad."  
"'Discuss the failings of recent American presidencies and their negative impact on the international community in general and Brazil in particular'? You're saying that's not biased?!"  
Carlos shrugged.  
"I know Gore's presidency hasn't been too strong in foreign relations, but the country itself has an ironclad economy, poverty is shrinking, and the environment is finally starting to improve. Although Tipper's book banning is a bit disconcerting," James admitted.  
Pedro thought for a second, "Yeah, she wanted to ban Harry Potter, didn't she?"  
James bit his tongue again. He hated such books, and especially movies based on them, "Yeah. But at least he was able to eliminate many terrorist groups, especially during Clinton's administration! Hell, within a week of his presidency, he found members of a terrorist group living in country planning to hijack planes and fly them into national landmarks. I mean, what would have happened if Bush got elected? We might have lost the World Trade Center! We might be fighting a war in another country and mucked it up so badly that we can't leave."  
Juana laughed, "That sounds a little silly."  
James smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose I can twist it by mentioning internal struggles between different branches of government that prevented many presidents from promoting their agendas, and…"  
Pedro paid no heed, doing his homework and occasionally asking for help. James insisted on checking it afterwards, which proved to be really bad since he found lots of mistakes, leading to twice as much work. Wormmon was on his shoulder, staring at the paper and trying to comprehend what it was saying.  
Pedro smiled inwardly, _I don't quite belong here,_ he thought, _but I'm getting there_.  
  
Authors Notes:  
  
As my fellow Diaries author Canis Black put it, it was about damn time. I'm a slow writer. I just hope my writing's good enough to be worth the wait.  
Ugh, Coatlmon is smaller than I thought. I originally thought him to be 5-6 meters (15-18 feet) long. Turns out the size ranges from smaller than Fladramon to looking a Kuwagamon in the eye.  
Some might wonder how Pedro could grab Renamon's tail without getting disemboweled. Well, Renamon's initial reaction is "is this kid fucking kidding me?" After Plotmon shows up, he goes BERSERK. He HATES Plotmon. And, as he said, he thinks this is a way for Plotmon to undermine him. So his goal isn't "Keep this kid from grabbing my tail," it's "Show Plotmon he can't fuck around with me."  
As for the whole President Gore bit, it's a combination of Digimon influence, Archive's mandate, and a fair bit of wishful thinking on my part. The short of it is that after the Digimon attacks in 99, it was blamed on terrorist actions, and thus Clinton stepped up his search for terrorists by a HUGE notch (staying out of Iraq, though), bringing in leaders of many terrorist groups, such as Osama bin Laden. This gave the Gore campaign a significant edge, bringing in much more swing states, and granting him Florida.   
Once again, I don't own Digimon, and the Brazilian section of the Diaries World is just being rented out to me by Archive. It's not so bad, though, because the Diaries Authors are good people. Go to and see for yourself. If I goofed on anything Brazilian, let me know, and any questions, comments, lame pickup lines, bomb threats, and anything else are welcomed by reviewing, posting on the message board, or emailing me directly at griffinguy24@yahoo.com  
  
  
  



	4. The Fourth Digimental

Jungle Diaries Volume IV: The Fourth Digimental

by Ryan Griffin

James could honestly say he'd never been in a tighter situation. He was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, a rock and a hard place. He had to choose, and both choices were, to the core, so undesirable, that if given a third option to instead set himself on fire, he would start showering in gasoline at that second. He gulped, and repeated the choices.

"Either I help you with managing the store…" he turned to Juana, "Or I go with you see a local football game…" He turned to Carlos.

Both nodded.

"Hmmm… I don't know, I think the Digital World's going to need us…"

"Wrong!" Juana said, "My family's not letting me do anything unless I put in my hours at the store…"

Carlos nodded, "And if you think I'm going to waste two tickets to see the Paysandu league play–"

"Three." James responded.

"Huh?" Carlos said.

"You said Pedro's going to the game, so if we go to the Digital World, you're wasting three tickets," Plotmon said from James's side.

"Right…" Carlos said, clearly not wanting to think about that detail, "Anyway, James, you always say you want to be more in touch with Brazilian culture. Well, NOTHING in Brazil is more important than football. Not being even slightly informed is the social equivalent of suicide. So please, James…"

"Hey, if I can't see the game, you think I'm going to let James go?" Juana said, "James, we're giving you and your father a home here! You can at least give my family and me some help with running this store!" Juana said, giving the best puppy eyes she could muster.

James was almost convinced, then Juana's father walked up and said, "Juana, we're going to need your help soon, we just got a shipment in, and it's a lot…"

Sports may be boring, but it was better than manual labor, "Well, Carlos, you've already bought my ticket, so I might as well oblige. I'll help you next weekend, Juana!" he said as he scooped up Plotmon and dragged Carlos out of there.

Juana sighed as she left the room, "Should've known he'd do that."

"Flirting with those two boys, were you, Juana?" Mrs. Lopes asked her daughter as the two were carrying crates of oranges.

Juana rolled her eyes, "We're just friends."

"Either of them would be a good catch, though. James seems like he'd be a very attentive and caring husband, and the DeCosta boy looks like he's loaded."

"Mother, I'm not going to consider anyone as a possible husband until I'm much older. End of discussion." Juana said firmly.

Her mother just smiled as she went into the storeroom.

"Christ, you'd think they'd want me to not follow in with any stereotypes. It's bad enough at school as it is. Imagine if I was married before I was eighteen…" Juana muttered

"Juana, what are you talking about?" Armadimon looked confused.

Juana flashed a smile, "Sorry, Armadimon, it's nothing. You Digimon should be glad you don't have cultural issues."

Armadimon nudged up to Juana, "I want to know. I need to know. You're my partner, I need to know, so maybe I can help…"

Juana sighed, walking as she talked, "It's nothing truly bad. It's just that usually Natives marry when they're very young. If I was raised in a tribe, like most Natives, I'd be married in a few months from now. I just don't appreciate it when my family makes hints like that, I don't want to get married when I'm young…"

Armadimon asked, "Getting married is like mating, right?"

Juana nodded, "Yes, just that when you're married, you promise to only be with one person."

Armadimon nodded, then asked, "Why don't you live in a tribe if you're a Native?"

"My father is half white. He's lived in the city all his life, and actually inherited this store from his father. My mother was tribal. My dad met her on a trip to one of the villages and married her, and brought my grandmother with him."

Armadimon nodded, "So your mother and father married when they were young?"

Juana bit her lip, "Actually… my father's over ten years older than my mother…"

Armadimon didn't know what to say to that. There was a bit of a pause before she said, "I think I'll go help unpack!" She dashed back to the crates.

Juana continued to walk on, before she heard a crash. She placed her crate down, rushing to Armadimon, who was on her back, with oranges and broken wooden boards around her.

Juana stifled a giggle as she helped her partner up.

The next two hours were a series of crashes, thumps, and spills, each with a neon yellow armadillo right in the middle of it. Juana wasn't entirely sure why her partner was continuously getting in trouble. Armadimon didn't have opposable thumbs and couldn't stand very high, even on her hind legs. Worst of all, in one such tumble, she broke the store's radio before the Paysandu game ended, so she would have to wait until the boys got home to know the outcome.

"Why is she doing this?" she asked to no one in particular as she sorted through items in the back room of the store. She noticed a parrot perched on a nearby windowsill. The parrot seemed to shrug before flying away. Juana sighed and resumed her work.

"Hello, is anyone in here?" Two voices asked in English. Two American tourists had entered the store.

Armadimon grinned as she heard this. The only member of the Lopes family home was Juana, and she was in the back of the store sorting items. After seeing her and her parents man the store, and hearing more and more English from the McConnell family, she could probably help these people.

Armadimon, confident she could finally do some good, marched up to the two tourists and said in broken English, "Hello, help you?"

The two tourists screamed as they ran out of the store.

Juana came in from the back room, "What's going on out here."

Armadimon sagged, "Nothing," she said as she skulked over to the staircase. She attempted once more to climb up them without help. After her third attempt, Juana exasperatedly helped her up.

Juana wiped some sweat from her brow as she walked into her room, "Well, I've put in enough time today. As soon as the others are back, we can go to the Digital World."

Armadimon nodded.

Juana was about to comment until she heard familiar voices.

"Wow, did you see the way he went right in and took the ball, then the other guy went in and, Bam! Right in the guy's…" Pedro gushed about the game at a high speed, Wormmon riding in his messy mass of hair. Carlos and James were walking behind him, V-mon and Plotmon besides them.

"It was better than I expected, Carlos, don't get me wrong. I'm just not a person that gets passionate about sporting events," James said.

"James, James, James. Football isn't a sporting event here, it's a way of life," Carlos said, "It's the glue that binds Brazil together. It's like going to church!"

"I… er, actually haven't ever been inside a church either…" James said, nervously.

"How'd it go?" Juana asked Carlos, ignoring Pedro's hyperactive gibbering.

"Paysandu won two to zero," Carlos said succinctly.

"YES!" Juana cheered.

"How'd it go here?" James asked.

"Well enough, despite some minor setbacks" Juana replied, not noticing Armadimon droop at that statement.

James brightened, "Well, You've suffered your work, I've suffered the soccer game–"

"Football," Carlos corrected.

"Sorry, keep forgetting," James rubbed the back of his head, "Anyway, how about we see what's going on in the Digital World?"

Pedro stopped his litany about the game to cheer, "Woo hoo! Time for some villain stomping!" Wormmon, V-mon, and Plotmon cheered in agreement as their humans headed to James's room.

Juana noticed Armadimon sagging despite all the good cheer. She patted her head, making Armadimon smile a little before they too left.

With a resounding "THUD," the group of children and Digimon once again materialized in the middle of the Digimon village, tangled in a heap of bodies. By now, it had occurred enough times that the towns-Digimon were relatively calm about it, and while there was still a layer of shock with their arrival, it wasn't as thick as before.

After a bit of struggling to untangle themselves, they moved to the one place they knew they could rely on for information.

"Wizarmon?" James asked, opening the door to the wizard Digimon's hut.

"Ah, James! Come on in, all of you, have a seat!" Wizarmon called from elsewhere in the hut.

The children entered, all disconcerted that a hut about the size of a large van could reveal more space than most houses. They took seats on various sofas, and Wizarmon appeared, carrying a very small teapot.

"Sorry I couldn't greet you at the door, but my tea was finished and I didn't want to let it burn. Would you like some? There's more than enough for nine."

Juana, and the Digimon immediately answered yes. James looked oddly at the teapot and was about to ask how it could contain enough tea for nine, but simply answered yes instead. Carlos also asked for some, and then nudged Pedro into agreeing.

With a flourish of one hand, a tray with nine mugs materialized on a table in front of the children, and Wizarmon began pouring a greenish brown steamy liquid into each mug, managing to somehow fill each mug near the brim with liquid. James resigned himself to believe that whatever force made the house contain more volume than it seemed also governed Wizarmon's teapot, but he knew that once they were settled, he would be grilling the wizard for information.

Each took a sip of the tea.

Juana perked up, "This is good! Exactly like my grandmother makes!"

James smacked his lips, "It has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but very good," and he took another sip.

Neither Armadimon nor Plotmon commented; they had lived with Wizarmon all their lives and had been drinking the tea since they were Babies.

Carlos gulped the tea down and said it was good in a way that didn't seem sincere. He looked at Pedro's face, then leaned toward him and whispered, "_Don't spit it out, or I'll kill you!_" Pedro gulped, and gave a thumb up towards Wizarmon.

Neither V-mon or Wormmon were paying attention, and both spat out their tea almost upon drinking it. Carlos put his head in his hands.

"Do not fret, Carlos, I am not offended if your tastes lean otherwise," the wizard consoled the boy, "But I am aware that this is not a social call. What brings you here?"

James responded, "Well, we aren't sure what we should be doing. We know that the creature who rules from the Iron Tower, whoever he is, is creating these Circuits and using them to evolve Digimon into berserk monsters. But we have no idea where to start."

Wizarmon considered this, "This is true… well, you should begin by seeking out all of the Digimentals."

"How many are there?" James asked.

"Ten, from the reports we have had from outside the continent. Of the ten, I would highly suggest you only seek out nine."

Pedro looked confused, "Why? If we have more Digimentals, we'll have more power, right?"

"It is a matter of what power you harness. The tenth Digimental I speak of is the Digimental of Darkness, the antithesis of your Digimental of Light, Pedro. Anyone who harnesses such a Digimental would most likely not be a person that would aid you in your quest."

Pedro shivered, "Well, if someone DOES find that Digimental, I hope we never meet him."

Wizarmon nodded, "As well you should. Light, Knowledge, and Faithfulness are already found. The other six, if I remember correctly, are Courage, Friendship, Love, Purity, Hope, and Kindness. I don't believe that any other current Chosen have found the Digimental of Kindness, but legends say that it does exist."

"And I suppose that you have no idea where the other six can be found?" Juana asked.

"Unfortunately no. And, if what the three of you say is true, than the Digimentals seem less to be concrete objects than forces that come when called into existence. In short, you won't find your Digimentals – your Digimentals will find you," Wizarmon said, "And they seem to find you when you are in peril. So the best course of action would be to seek out your enemies for you to find your Digimentals."

"Now I'm even more confused," Pedro said, "So the best way to find our enemies is to look for the Digimentals, and the best way to find our Digimentals is to look for our enemies? That's no help at all!"

"Pedro!" Carlos said, prepared to smack his brother.

"Actually, he has a point," James said.

"Indeed he does," Wizarmon relented, "Let me see if I can try and clear matters up," he waved his hand and the table turned into an odd map. "Hmm," he muttered as he looked at the map, "We have scoured information from our jungles, the coastal mountain ranges, and the swamplands surrounding the City of Gold, a home for machine Digimon. The southern scrub forests and grasslands are unknown to us. We have been warned that there is a great force in the area that kills any Digimon in its path, so we have not sent scouts there."

James pondered, "A great force that kills? Perhaps it is allied with the creature that plagues the jungles."

"From what we have been told, the force is benign, mostly, but we would rather not risk our people by sending them into that area. The force does not discriminate friend from foe easily. I am sure this is an exaggeration, but I would rather not take the risk."

"This still leaves the question of where we begin," Carlos said.

"Well, we have heard reports of Adult Digimon acting erratically here, here, here, and here," he pointed to places on the map, and each one lit up, "These four places are equidistant from our settlement and from each other."

Carlos smiled, "Well, that's easy enough, there's four of us, we send one to each place!"

James shook his head, "No."

Carlos looked at him, "Why not?"

"Juana's why not," James stated simply.

"What are you talking about?" Juana looked at him.

"You're the only one of us without a Digimental, if you're out there and face up against something big and powerful, you'll have no means to protect yourself. It's better if you were to go with someone else, just in case something were to happen."

Juana stared at James incredulously, "Are you SERIOUS, James?! You think I can't fend for myself? That I need one of you to protect me?"

James started to shrink, "It's not that, I just–"

Juana shook her head, "No, it IS that! You think I'm not strong enough to fend for myself! Well, James, we're going to go with Carlos's plan, and I'm certainly not going to go with one of you because you feel the need to protect me!"

There was an awkward silence, and then James nodded, "Whatever you say."

Wizarmon placed four parchments over the table map, turning each into an exact copy of the map, "These should help. Go now, and may whatever powers you believe in bless your journey."

Each took a map. Upon taking hers, Juana stormed out of the hut with Armadimon close behind. James was the last in taking his map, and walked out with his head hung low.

Plotmon scampered up to him, and attempted to change the subject, "Well, at least we haven't had a visit from our usual tormentor today."

James chuckled, "Tall, yellow, and ill-tempered. But I guess even Renamon needs a day off from being an asshole."

Plotmon chuckled back, "With Renamon, hating us isn't so much a full time job as it is a hobby."

James asked, "Why does Renamon hate you so much anyway?"

Plotmon responded, "It all goes back to when we first met…"

Several years ago –

Plotmon and Renamon were walking in a crowded section of the village. Renamon stopped to look at a sign. Plotmon accidentally bumped into Renamon's leg and was carried off by the sea of Digimon before he got a chance to apologize.

"…And he's hated me ever since then," Plotmon finished.

"Well, it's not too bad a reason. Best explanation I have as to why Juana's in such a foul mood," Carlos said, walking up behind them with V-mon at his side.

James shook his head, "I don't know why she's so defensive. I just wanted to make sure that she'd be okay."

Carlos chuckled, "Juana's a strong girl, and Armadimon is fiercely protective of her. I'm sure she'll be fine."

James sighed, "I know. But… well, I never had any friends before Juana. I never WANTED to have friends before Juana. She was the first person I met who wanted to spend time with me, the first person that I gave a chance, and the first person that I actually ended up wanting to spend time with. Forgive me if I want to protect her."

Carlos chuckled, "And I'm sure the fact that she's a girl aids to this glowing praise you gave her?"

James blushed, "Well… she IS very pretty…"

Carlos burst out laughing, "Well, I'm sure she'll come around. Good luck.""

"You too," and with that, the two humans and their Digimon parted ways.

Meanwhile, Juana walked away from the vendor's shack she was hiding behind, fuming, until she overheard James and Carlos's conversation. She walked towards her own objective, her thoughts crowding her mind.

"Juana, you should apologize to James," Armadimon said, "He's right, you know…"

"No he isn't. I appreciate his sentiment but not his actions. Even if he wants to protect me, he shouldn't feel as if I needed it," Juana surmised.

"But…Juana, you do need it…"

Juana shook her head, "No I don't. As long as I have you, and that's all the protection I need," she continued walking but stopped as soon as she realized Armadimon wasn't following her, "Armadimon?" she looked back and saw that Armadimon was crying, "Armadimon, what's the matter?!"

"I'm sorry Juana," Armadimon sobbed, "I'm sorry that I'm not a good partner. I'm sorry I can't evolve to protect you or help you out with your chores or your homework. I'm sorry I'm useless."

Juana looked shocked, "You aren't useless, Armadimon," she assured.

"I am! I can't fight Adult level Digimon like the others can, and I can't help you when you're at home. I can't carry boxes, I can't help customers, I can't shelve things, I can't help with schoolwork, I can't even get down the stairs without asking for help…"

Juana felt a proverbial light bulb click on over her head, "So THAT'S why you were causing all that ruckus back home! You were trying to help me with my work…"

Armadimon nodded, "I thought if I couldn't be a help in the Digital World, I could at least help you out in the real world…"

Juana shook her head, and then kneeled down to Armadimon's level, "Armadimon, just the fact that you WANTED to help me is more than enough. I've known some people for years and they wouldn't give me the time of day, but we've only known each other a few days and you've treated me like family. I don't know what I ever did to deserve to have a friend as selfless as you.

"Besides," Juana sighed, "if there's any reason you can't evolve, it's me. You can only evolve when we activate a Digimental. The only reason that you can't fight here is me."

Armadimon looked up with her green eyes marked with red, "Juana, you shouldn't say that! There's nothing wrong with you!"

Juana smiled, "And there's nothing wrong with YOU either. You're giving and kind and sweet, like a sister I never had. I guess I don't even want you to change. Whenever Plotmon or V-mon or Wormmon armor evolve, they stop being themselves and start being fighting machines. I'd rather you never evolve if it meant that you weren't the caring creature I know."

Armadimon sniffed, then smiled, and the two embraced in a hug. Juana could swear she heard a voice giggle and her pack suddenly felt a bit heavier.

A horrific crashing in the undergrowth beneath them, however, ruined the moment.

"Armadimon, what is that?!" Juana asked her partner, who had more accurate hearing than she did.

Her question was soon answered by three familiar voices.

"DIGIMENTAL UP!"

"It's our cue, Juana," Armadimon responded.

The beast before them was a creature born out of a five year old's nightmare after first hearing the story of Little Red Riding Hood and having the parent leave right after saying the words "All the better to eat you with!" It was a giant red canine creature, and upon close inspection, one could see its sharp claws and legs covered in black leather straps and gloves. However, close was not something you wanted to get with this creature, as its main feature was it elongated head, which was all mouth, and this mouth was all teeth. These were not teeth to be laughed at. The Crocodile Hunter would take one look at this creature and take off in the opposite direction, rather than the forward one he is usually so fond of when confronting creatures with such teeth.

Shortly before Plotmon evolved, he mentioned two things: This was a Fangmon, and he had never seen one in real life, much less fought one. This was not encouraging.

After the three Armors evolved, Fangmon pounced, aimed for the yellow butterfly with unbelievable rage.

"_Sweet Pheromone_!" Butterflymon sent off his perfume in Fangmon's face. The red beast huffed for a bit, woozed a little, then shook his head wildly and lunged back at the butterfly.

James looked angry, "Why did that attack only work ONCE?!"

"_Sargasso Drag_!" Depthmon flew past, opening his chest plate and tying the Fangmon's jaws with its cables.

"Good plan, Carlos!" James yelled, "it's jaw muscles for closing are strong, but the muscles for opening said jaws are probably weak!"

As though he understood what James said and was trying to be ironic, Fangmon opened his jaws, breaking the cables, then bit down on the cables, and flung Depthmon into a tree.

James paled, "I guess that only works for crocodiles…"

Fangmon, now with freed jaws, began his assault on Butterflymon anew. The armored insect kept spreading his opiates as he flew out of reach. Fangmon eventually began to slow down…

"_Freeze Wave_!" Coatlmon blasted a beam of frigid air at the red canine. But it proved too little too early. The cold air blew away the haze and knocked Fangmon back to his senses soon enough for him to leap out of the beam before he became encased in ice. Fangmon then began to run.

"Oh no, you don't!" Coatlmon dove down after the fox creature, following through the brush, worming his way through the dense foliage. And within seconds, he was centimeters away from Fangmon's tail.

And it was at that exact point that Fangmon took a hard turn left. Coatlmon, surprised, attempted to stop, but momentum was against him and he soon slammed hard into a tree trunk.

Fangmon bounded back out and ran back towards Butterflymon, and at precisely that time, Juana and Armadimon appeared.

Both combatants regarded the pair for a second.

"Leave, before you get– AAAAAGH!" Butterflymon howled in agony as Fangmon bit off a small fragment of his wing.

James ran up to the pair, "He already took down Depthmon and Coatlmon! You should get out of here!"

Juana then thought for a second, "He didn't attack me. He realized I wasn't a threat and didn't attack me…"

James sputtered, "Juana, you could get–"

"Armadimon, trip him up!" Juana said.

"_Rolling Stone_!" Armadimon curled into a ball and spun towards Fangmon, smacked him on one of his hind legs, causing him to spill over. The red beast growled, snapped at the armored rodent, then turned back to his fight with Butterflymon.

Juana turned to James, "When he attacked Depthmon and Coatlmon, did he attack them first, or did they attack him?"

James responded, "They attacked him. He was going after Plotmon and only dealt with the others if he was interrupted…"

Juana nodded, "I have a hunch. I think that's Renamon!"

James blinked, "Renamon?!" he then realized the beast was vulpine, resembled the maniacal fox in certain ways, and expressed the same hatred of his Digimon partner.

Carlos and Pedro ran in from the undergrowth with their beaten and stunned Child level partners.

Juana felt her pack, then turned to James, "I want you and Butterflymon to lead him through the undergrowth. Stall him, you need to be the bait."

James nodded, then stopped, "Wait, how will you stop him if I'm just the bait?"

Juana smiled, "Because I have two hunches, and I believe both are correct. The first is that that red creature is Renamon evolved."

"And the second?" James asked.

"That I just found my Digimental," She opened her pack, and sitting on top was a green egg shaped object, which appeared to be resting on a ninja star. A teardrop shaped symbol marked the front.

James looked at it, then nodded. He yelled towards Butterflymon, who flew out, wrapped his arms around James, then took off with his partner in tow and his enemy behind him.

Juana turned to Armadimon, "Digimental UP!"

"_Armadimon, armor evolve_…"

As Armadimon and the Digimental merged, it exploded in a flurry of leaves, which molded into an odd looking form. Juana could hear a frog croaking before the leaves were blown away.

The resulting form was a bright yellow and rather large frog creature. Its big red eyes winked at Juana. It had daggers strapped to both legs and its right leg was encased in black. On the creature's back was a red contraption, from which three green appendages sprouted. Two looked like an amalgamation of a palm tree and a helicopter propeller. The last formed a huge leaf that draped itself over the creature's face.

"_… Hidden with purity, Frogmon_!"

Frogmon turned towards her partner and winked, "Let's take care of that creep!"

Juana nodded, got on Frogmon's back, in between the leaf and the propellers, and the two bounded off into the forest.

Carlos and Pedro stood dumbfounded.

"Shouldn't we be, you know, helping?" Pedro asked.

"The girl has a plan. I say we leave her to it," Carlos responded.

James was learning just how little fun being chased by the unholy hybridization of a fox and a bear trap was. One of the creature's bites came dangerously close to biting his foot off.

"Whatever Juana's planning to do, I hope she does it soon!" James yelled to Butterflymon.

"_Leaf Wheel Cutter_!" A green propeller blade flew straight into Fangmon's flank, blasting him far into the underbrush. Frogmon and Juana jumped out from the underbrush and landed where Fangmon was. The propeller flew back and reattached to Frogmon's back.

"Impeccable timing," James said.

"So that's your Armor form, Armadimon… kinda cute actually," Butterflymon seemed to smile.

James boggled. Cute was among the last words he'd use to describe the frog Digimon. But, he guessed, Digimon had different views of each other.

Juana leaped off of Frogmon's back, "He'll be back shortly. We need to lose him! James, you and I need to get to safe ground, preferably where we can get a good vantage point!"

James nodded, "Yes ma'am!"

Juana turned to Butterflymon, "You need to act as bait. He's out for your blood. You need to be the carrot to pull this horse cart along!"

Butterflymon gave a salute in response.

Juana at last turned to her partner, "Frogmon, you need to keep up with Fangmon. You need to attack him frequently, suddenly, and swiftly! Run away as soon as you've attacked, don't let him catch you, or even see you if you can handle it. If he starts to chase after Frogmon, then you, Butterflymon, have to get his attention back on you, understood?" three heads nodded.

James turned to a tree, "I don't think Fangmon can climb, or fit into the tree-elevators. Our best bet is to go up."

Juana nodded, "All right, let's do this!" Frogmon went off into the forest, Butterflymon began to hover around for Fangmon to find, and James and Juana ran into the elevator of a nearby tree. James hit the button for the highest level, and the elevator rose.

After some moments of uncomfortable silence, James spoke, "I'm sorry I doubted you. You're doing better at this than I ever did…"

Juana turned to James, "Well… I don't appreciate that you thought I was weak… but I do appreciate that you were worried about me. And I overreacted. Sorry for that."

They remained silent again, this time with less discomfort, "I really have been going about this all wrong," James said, "I've just been relying on punching our way out and finding new Digimentals to solve our problems. I should put this thing," he tapped his head, "to better use."

Juana laughed, "Yeah, we could possibly benefit from you using those brain cells for something besides biology," both of them had a long laugh, less from the joke than that they needed to release some tension from the battle. Juana grinned, "So James… do you really think I'm pretty?" she smiled in a way reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat.

"What the… how did you… I… what I mean is… umm…" James sputtered, his face as red as a lobster, before Juana began to giggle uncontrollably. James in turn scratched the back of his head and laughed half heartedly, wishing the elevator would reach their destination. With luck it soon did, James silently thanking it for ending his embarrassment.

The tree turned out to be a worse vantage point than they had believed. The branch they were standing on was below the canopy level, but the branches below hid the forest floor rather well. The most they could do was hear their Digimon's attacks telegraphed, and occasionally, a flash of yellow and white followed by a flash of red and black, until finally they heard a yelp followed by a giant fox propelled straight up through the branches, followed quickly by a Butterflymon and Frogmon flying straight into Fangmon, in a dual slam that should've crushed his ribs. Fangmon opened his mouth, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the forest floor, including the offending Circuit. The red fox shimmered and reverted to the yellow fox-man he used to be.

Renamon came to, and was surprised to find himself suspended in midair, and even more surprised to find himself held hundreds of meters above the ground by Plotmon's evolved form and an unfamiliar frog Digimon held aloft by odd propellers. His first reaction was the emotion he normally felt: Rage.

"How DARE you, Plotmon?!" Renamon snarled, "How DARE you kidnap me and hold me in such a manner?! When I'm through, the data of you and your partner will be so scattered that Lord Zhuqiaomon himself couldn't reform you!"

"Renamon!" All heads turned as Juana spoke harshly towards the fox, "You should be thanking us you can even say such things! Five seconds ago you were being controlled by one of the Iron Tower's circuits!"

Renamon let a look of shock cross his face, "How? I would never let such filthy contraptions enter my body!"

Juana replied, "Well it looks like that filthy contraption had a different idea. Now, perhaps you'll want to apologize before our partners decide to stop being so courteous and let you fall to your doom."

Renamon blinked, "Your… partners…?" He turned to face Frogmon, "You're Armadimon?"

Frogmon stared at him, "Last time I checked. I'm Frogmon now, though."

Renamon's eyes took on a weird look. All present could swear they saw hearts surrounding his head, "You're even MORE beautiful than you were before, as if that were even possible."

James and Juana facevaulted, and personally wondered exactly HOW Digimon's tastes went.

A vein popped in Frogmon's head, "Renamon, stop this Baihumon-damned foolishness!"

Renamon looked crushed, "But I've let my heart out to you countless times! I'm a thousand times better than this filthy cur here! Why must you tear out my heart like this when I am the only one who can love you the way you deserve to be loved?"

James blinked, "Okay, am I the only one who feels they just walked into the middle of a movie here?"

"No," chorused Juana and Butterflymon.

Frogmon sighed, took Renamon, and landed on the branch besides him, "Okay, Renamon, maybe I haven't been too clear on this. The reason I've turned you down… repeatedly, is NOT because I'm courting Plotmon…" with that, she took out her dagger from the hilt on her leg and accentuated each word with a blow to the head with the dagger's butt, "IT'S! BE! CAUSE! YOU! ARE! A! PSYCHO!" with that, she slammed his barely conscious body down on the tree branch, and devolved into Armadimon and stormed off in a huff as Juana followed. Butterflymon fluttered near James and devolved into Plotmon.

James looked tentatively at Renamon, "Uh… Are you going to be all right?"

At that, Renamon leapt towards James, but instead of attacking him like he believed he would, the fox latched onto James and began bawling his eyes out.

James looked very uncomfortable. Trying to comfort people was awkward enough – trying to comfort a tall humanoid fox that had on more than one occasion threatened your life was a whole new ball game. "Um… there there! There there." He patted the fox on the back to accentuate this. There was a snuffling sound and James's shirt got much more mucousy than he would have preferred.

"Cheer up Renamon… besides, you're a big tough guy! I'm sure lots of females would be happy to be with you!"

Renamon sobbed, "None of them can compare to Armadimon… she's so soft and delicate and gentle…"

"Renamon, I've lived with her nearly all my life, and none of those adjectives apply to Armadimon. She's beaten me since I was Nyaromon! She just beat you into near unconsciousness! Are you sure you want to be her boyfriend?"

Renamon looked a bit unsure at that, "But…"

Plotmon walked over to him, "C'mon, I'll help cheer you up."

Renamon buried his face in James's shirtfront with another sob and snuffle that nearly made James retch, "There's nothing that can fill the gap in my heart…" Renamon sniffled.

"How about my knowledge of where Wizarmon keeps his liquor and dirty pictures?"

Renamon instantly turned towards Plotmon and smiled, "Plotmon, old buddy, I think I've SERIOUSLY misjudged you…"

Armadimon was both happy and unhappy. She had beaten Fangmon and finally told Renamon off in the only language he understood. She had evolved, and that gave her a euphoria she was previously unaware of. However, there was the matter of Juana, because in the act of evolving, she had turned from the best friend into a fighting machine Juana had praised her for not being. She wondered if her partner was somehow disappointed in her for evolving and fighting. Juana had turned away from Armadimon in the elevator ride to the forest floor. Finally, she worked up the nerve.

"Juana?" Armadimon nudged her partner's leg, "Are you mad at me?"

Juana turned and had a grin on her face wider than Armadimon had seen before, "Armadimon, mad is the LAST thing I am! You were incredible! You were so fast! So strong! And you beat a Digimon the boys couldn't beat! That means you're more powerful than them! Armadimon, you're the coolest thing I've ever seen!" with that, she reached down, scooped Armadimon up, and hugged her.

Armadimon was confused, but she was glad she made her partner proud of her.

Later that night, after the humans had left and the sun had sunk below the horizon, Two creatures hovered over the shining and humming Circuit lying on the ground. The first, looking like a stag beetle made of household appliances, addressed the second, who looked like a flying collection of gears.

"Looks like those kids got another one, Hagurumon," he said.

"And we saw that butterfly Digimon fight with a weird frog Digimon. Looks like the female human earned a Digimental, Kokuwamon," Hagurumon, the gear Digimon said, shaking his head gear.

"Our boss isn't going to like this, and he doesn't exactly follow a 'Don't shoot the messenger' policy. We're gonna get deleted for telling him this," Kokuwamon looked scared.

Hagurumon sighed as he picked the Circuit up, "Well, if we desert, he'll kill us anyway. At least this way there's a chance we'll live."

Kokuwamon started walking off, "This was the worst summer job ever."

"I know! I was hoping to get some credit towards university, not work for some warlord trying to destroy Chosen Children!"

"Too bad his methods of firing someone involve actual fire."

"Well, as sorry as I am for us, I feel sorrier for those humans. Once the boss gets word of this, they're not going to last…"

The pair walked off towards the Iron Tower, where their fate, and the Chosen Children's, waited within.

Author's Notes:

Finally Juana gets a Digimental!

Damn, I write slowly. I put out chapter 3 hoping to finish this more quickly. Wouldn't you know it, though, it's been ten months.

I struggle with the Real World scenes, more than anything. Digital World scenes, I can churn out in a few days. It takes months before the Real World scenes develop.

Many thanks to fellow Diaries author Persona for giving me the name of a popular soccer football league in Belem, as well as helping me with the cultural aspects of the series. Speaking of which, if you haven't already, go read South Digimon Diaries NOW. In addition to being a high quality story about the Argentina team (and, unlike this one, is written by a native, so you KNOW that it's accurate), chapter 5 features a guest appearance by James and Juana, as will the upcoming chapter still in the works.

Anyway, corrections, questions or comments are directed to me, as usual, at , or on the Diaries Message Board at And give my fellow Diaries authors' fics a look. There's some real high-quality stuff there.


	5. Burning Light

"It shouldn't be a problem, you said," Carlos groaned as he ran alongside his teammates, "We'll just do some patrolling, you said. No signs of danger, you said. Well, James, what do we do now!" he asked sarcastically as the four humans scattered as an explosion rocketed behind them.

"Working on it!" James croaked out as he got to his feet. He surveyed the situation.

They were currently surrounded by a group of J-Mojamon, creatures that resembled brown apes or bears. All had eyes that were glowing bright red. Individually, James figured that any one of their Armor Digimon could have taken them on. However, they were vastly outnumbered, about forty to four.

Butterflymon, Frogmon, Depthmon, and Coatlmon would have protected their humans from the explosion, if about ten Digimon each weren't trying to kill them.

Wizarmon had said that the J-Mojamon village, nestled in the treetops to the west, contained peaceful, docile Digimon who had a tendency to flee rather than fight. Wizarmon was going to face a group of yelling humans and Child Digimon very soon, if they even survived this mess.

In the midst of the vast amounts of brown, hairy beasts, a large black obelisk stood. On top of it a robot balanced itself. It was a deep reddish brown color, large, clunky, and somewhat humanoid. It didn't look entirely menacing at first. Then it started firing missiles, one of which nearly cost Pedro his legs.

James was trying to think of what to do, but one thought stood front and center, a voice crying "How the hell did we get into this situation!"

The answer to that, could have been derived if he knew what his enemy in the Iron Tower had done the previous night…

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"Boss?" a lone Kokuwamon entered the shadow-filled office.

"Yes, what is it?" a frustrated voice bellowed behind a massive desk. The office was designed to suit a Digimon much larger than the Kokuwamon. Aside from suiting the needs of the occupant, the office served well for intimidation purposes, as the trembling Kokuwamon was demonstrating.

"Err, I've been sent to relay the reports from the City of Gold," the metallic bug trembled.

"Go on, don't waste my time."

Kokuwamon gulped, "Most of your investors have expressed their wish to pull their funds. They say they're not seeing enough results in the time they've given you…you are expected to lose over half of them. Over seventeen million credits."

The massive shadowy figure appraised this information, "I see. This will require some thought. You are free to go."

Kokuwamon looked relieved, "Yes, sir," and he left the office.

The Digimon paged his secretary, "Have that Kokuwamon melted down for slag."

He put his head in his hands…or what might have been hands, "This is not good. My resource acquisition is nowhere near what it should be. My land tracts are far short, hell, they are LESS than what I began with. My soldiers and miners are dwindling, my influx of gold, gems, iron ore, bauxite, natural gas, and petroleum is lessening, my original supply of credits is nearly squandered–"

"And you would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids."

The Digimon sat up, and turned to his vid phone. No one had called him, and he hadn't turned it on. He boggled at the unfamiliar face in the screen.

"Losing what you have? I'd have expected better, especially from a former general under the Dark Master Mugen Dramon."

He was enraged, "How do you know about that! Who are you!"

"I…am a friend. For now, that is all you need to know. But, for now, what would you say if I gave you a way to deal with those kids?"

The Digimon considered. Currently, the little brats were the only thing standing between him and total control of the area. Ten minutes ago, he would have given a direct and solid "no." Now, with his benefactors pulling their investments, he was seriously considering it.

"Let me hear it first."

"I have been given descriptions of these Circuits you have created. Ingenious, really, few minds would have the capacity to–"

"I have enough Digimon kissing my ass. I don't need another one."

"Quite. The fact is that your Circuits are far inferior to a creation of my own," a holographic image popped up, "It's called an Evil Spiral. I believe you have the ability to mass produce it."

He looked at it critically, "How exactly is this 'far superior' to my Circuits?"

"Your Circuits need to be ingested by a Digimon, while this straps on to the Digimon's outside. I know that only a small number of you Circuits are ingested. This will increase the number of Digimon you will control 600 percent."

"…Go on."

"To boot, your circuits, most of the time, simply induce evolution and cause the Digimon to go crazy, rather than become your direct soldier. And a feral Digimon is worthless to you. But these Spirals will cause each Digimon to become your willing soldier. In fact, I have provided you with a simple twist in the algorithm that could cause the Digimon, upon becoming hit with the Spiral, to evolve to Adult, perhaps even Perfection. And I know your Circuits cannot induce evolution to Perfection."

The Digimon considered this. If this man (and he realized that was what it had to be: a human), was telling the truth, he could recapture his lost resources, pay back his investors and entice them to invest even more, build up a formidable army against the children, and do it all for less money than he was spending now. However…

"What's the catch?"

The man smiled, "The 'catch,' as you call it, is something that will benefit you as well as me." A new holographic image appeared, that of a black obelisk, "This is a Dark Tower. Think of it as my calling card. Place one of these towers in every area of the Digital World you control. It will weaken the Digital World's barrier, and hamper the ability of evolution. So, as a bonus, it will prevent those brats' Digimon from evolving."

"That is it?"

"That's it."

"You know much about me and my operations, yet I know nothing about you. Tell me who I am speaking to, and I will consider."

The man gave a smirk, "Very well, my name is Yukio Oikawa."

The Digimon returned the smile, "Well then, Mr. Oikawa, we have a deal."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

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As it was, James knew nothing of this, and went with the best option he could, "Retreat!" As he called, Butterflymon quickly gained altitude, attempting to escape the fists and bone clubs of his opponents. The other Digimon followed suit.

It was pure dumb luck that they figured out what happened. A random J-Mojamon had grabbed Coatlmon by the neck as he tried to gain altitude. Pedro called out to his Digimon, causing all the humans to watch as Coatlmon was choked. Coatlmon, operating on pure impulse, slashed his ornate tail blade at his attacker's arm, shattering a spiraled black bracelet…

Immediately, the brown Digimon let go, the red glowing of his eyes fading, revealing confused yellow eyes. The J-Mojamon turned around, confused, and began to call out to his fellow Digimon.

"What's going on! What are you all doing!" the confused Digimon cried, which could barely be heard over the din of the other J-Mojamon.

James caught the confused Digimon's voice, and yelled, "The bracelets! They're the weak point! Aim for them!"

Butterflymon nodded in assent, spreading his Sweet Pheromone around the group, calming them into a stupor before slashing the bracelets clean with his thistle. Depthmon sent cables from his armor, bringing his foes close enough that he could break the bracelets with his claws. Coatlmon sent blasts of wind, freezing his opponents in their place as he went to work on them with his tail. Frogmon's leaf propellers detached and flew, spinning like buzzsaws, cutting the bracelets to shreds as they flew past with surgical precision.

Slowly but surely, the battle was turning. In addition, as more of the J-Mojamon were released from their stupor, they began to realize what had happened to them and began to work on freeing their cousins as well. Within several minutes, the horde of Digimon was reduced to a dazed and confused gathering.

All was peaceful for a moment, before the J-Mojamon caught sight of a missile coming and stampeded as far as they could go before it detonated on the ground.

"A cowardly species of Digimon," the robot, descending from the tower via rockets on his back, said to the Chosen humans and Digimon, "Strong physically, but show even an iota of power and they run like spooked Hatchlings. Disgusting," the robot's eyes scanned the group, "I suppose I should commend you for succeeding against my forces, but the truth is, they were nothing. This area was nothing more than a test of our newest equipment. It has passed. And you shall fail."

The group was more than a little surprised by their opponent's eloquence. All of their previous battles were against creatures barely above animal intelligence.

"As you have guessed, those Evil Spirals were nothing more than an upgrade of our Circuits. Easier to destroy, yes, but much easier to administer wholesale to a group of Digimon… Might have worked better with tougher Digimon, but that doesn't matter, seeing as our little war ends right here, at the hands of Guardromon, loyal servant of the Metal Empire… Destruction Grenade!" The robot lifted his arm, a missile flew out and drifted in midair, nearly destroying Butterflymon and Coatlmon.

"_Sweet Pheromone_!" Butterflymon blasted Guardromon with his pollen attack, only to find the robot seeming to grin with his eyes.

"Mechanical body. Unfortunately for you, that powder of yours is as ineffective as dirt."

"_Bubble Bomb_!" Depthmon cried as he threw the small water bomb at the robot, When it cleared, there seemed to be no ill effects, save making the robot mad, as he rushed at the merman Digimon.

"_Leaf Wheel Cutter_!" Frogmon cried, leaping at the Digimon with her spinning propellers out, grinding at the metal foe. Sparks flew for several minutes, then the foes separated. Guardomon looked no worse for wear, but the edges of the frog's leaf propellers looked incredibly worn.

"_Fossil Wave_!" Coatlmon shot a blast of gray wind at Guardromon, freezing him quite effectively.

"Let's get him before he snaps out!" Juana called

"Depthmon, throw him up! Butterflymon, aim for the eyes!" James called.

"_Sargasso Drag_!" the merman Digimon called, cables erupting from his armor, ensnaring the foe and throwing him in midair.

"_Sweet Thistle_!" Butterflymon's sugar cane appeared in his hands. With extreme precision, he shoved the puny-looking stick in the only place on Guardromon that looked vulnerable: the rectangular hole that his eyes peered out of. Both eyes crossed for a second to look at the stick wedged firmly in between them.

"Huh," Guardromon said, before breaking up into pixels of data and flying into the air.

Butterflymon stared at the thistle for several minutes, not believing what had happened. James sunk to his knees.

"We… killed him. He's dead…" James said, the feeling sinking into him.

The rest of the day managed to pass by rather uneventfully.

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Plotmon was very concerned. James wasn't falling asleep. Plotmon was well aware of the physical consequences of lack of sleep, none of which were positive. In addition, the fact that James was not doing anything but staring into space, he doubted that anything was well. He nudged his human partner and asked, "What's the matter?"

James just shook his head, "I can't stop thinking about that Guardromon… We killed him…"

Plotmon shook his head, "He'll be all right. He'll be reformatted and reborn as a Digitama. That happens to almost every Digimon."

James raised an eyebrow, "Almost?"

"Data can't be reused forever. After a while, it'll stop being reformatted," Plotmon responded, "Usually only higher level Digimon who've reached the final evolutionary stages stay dead, but even then that's not a guarantee. That Guardromon will be back, and hopefully, he won't try to kill any humans or Digimon again."

James didn't look convinced, "Even so… I still don't feel comfortable with that. That Guardromon, no matter the circumstances, was a living, breathing creature. A mechanical one, sure, but still alive. And thanks to me, it's dead. It's dead because I wanted it to die…"

Plotmon shook his head, "I'm the one who killed it. It's my fault…"

James looked Plotmon in the eye, "If I hadn't wanted Guardromon dead, would you have been able to kill him?"

Plotmon considered that for a bit, then shook his head, "You're my partner. I want what you want."

James sighed, "It's just that I've always thought that life was sacred. That people don't have the right to take it from someone else unless there's a reason for it."

Plotmon practically jumped, "Guardromon took over the J-Mojamon village! Tried to kill all of us! If we hadn't killed him, it might have been US sent back to the Village of Beginnings as eggs! Or if not us, then Armadimon or V-mon or Wormmon and all of their humans! That's all that matters!"

James lowered his head, "I know that… But for some reason, that doesn't make me feel any better about it…"

Sighing, James climbed into bed, attempting to sink into the oblivion of sleep.

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"All right, I've called this meeting, if we can even call it that, to talk about our fourth human member," Juana said. The girl, along with the DeCosta brothers and their Digimon, including Plotmon, were located on the roof. Juana was attempting to bring attention to herself, considering that Pedro was playing around on the rooftop and Carlos was yelling at him.

Carlos sighed, "Well, saying James has been upset lately is like saying the Flooded Forest is damp. And we know the reason full well."

Pedro blinked, "Wait, what's going on?"

Carlos rolled his eyes, "Pedro, even YOU had to notice what's going on with James this past week…"

"Oh!" Pedro's said, with recognition, "You mean how when we're on patrol, he's not running ahead or having Plotmon fight or saying big words that I don't understand?"

Plotmon nodded, "He's not eating or sleeping well either."

"I'm not sure why he's so depressed," Juana said with a sigh.

"It's because of Guardromon. He feels guilty," Carlos said.

"I'm not sure why," Juana replied, "He was trying to kill us. It should have been no problem…"

Carlos shook his head, "James just strikes me as the type… you know, the type who doesn't even kill bugs if he can help it?"

Wormmon paled, "I hope so!"

Carlos ignored his brother's Digimon, "Besides, we don't know what it's like. He was the one who killed him…"

Juana shook her head, "We all helped to defeat Guardromon. It was a group effort."

Carlos shrugged, "Butterflymon killed him. James gave the order. He's the leader, he gets the responsibility for it."

Juana let out a dismissive snort, "Who made him our leader? The guy has no common sense. I wouldn't make him our leader."

Carlos shrugged, "Well, we haven't really said he's the leader or whatever. But, when things get bad he kind of takes over for us and makes the decisions. As long as water isn't involved," Carlos said, laughing softly.

Juana laughed with him, "I don't know, James is a nice guy, I just don't think that he makes a good leader…"

"Good thing I don't really want to be one, then, isn't it?" a voice said behind him.

Juana and Carlos both looked behind them to see James standing before them. His expression was unreadable.

"Am I not supposed to be here?" James asked.

"Pedro!" Carlos shouted.

"What did I do!" Pedro cried.

James sighed, "Don't worry. I can understand. I haven't exactly been fun to be around lately. I just have some things on my mind…" he shook his head, "I talked with Wizarmon last night. Apparently, the J-Mojamon village wants to thank us for freeing them. Should be nice," he said this in a monotone voice that rivaled a computer program that emphasized the wrong syllables in words, "Let's go, Plotmon…" he walked off.

Wordlessly, the puppy followed his human friend, followed shortly by the rest of the team.

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The J-Mojamon village was a gigantic party. Everywhere, the furry Digimon were dancing, playing musical instruments, drinking what were most likely alcoholic beverages, and eating their most exquisite foods available.

The Chosen were very much in a partying mood. Pedro, after being shooed away from the alcoholic beverages by his older brother, had gone off with a few younger J-Mojamon and began teaching them how to play football, Wormmon and V-mon joining in. Carlos was joking with a few older J-Mojamon, who thoroughly enjoyed the human's company. Juana and Armadimon were deep in conversation with the village's medicine man, who was more than happy to share their village's customs and traditions with the human girl.

The only wallflower at this party was, of course, James. Plotmon would have tried to enjoy himself if not for his worry over his partner. He barely registered a large presence behind him.

"You are the Butterflymon's human, are you not?" a J-Mojamon, dressed in ornate feathers that designated him as the village's chief. At James nod, he bowed deeply, "Then we are in your debt most of all. If not for your quick action, we would all still be slaves of the Metal Empire, the toys of that ruthless Guardromon."

James nodded, "You're welcome."

"Something troubles you, human? Is our festival not to your liking?" the chief said, wondering if he had offended this human he held a rather high opinion of.

"No, your festival is fine. I'm just not in a partying mood," James sighed.

"You have the look of a new warrior, one who has seen what combat can truly do," the J-Mojamon chief responded.

"You're absolutely right," James slumped, "I never killed anything before that Guardromon. I… I don't know how I feel. I know that it shouldn't bother me this much, but…"

The chief nodded, "You have the strength of a warrior, but your core holds life sacred. You know what the costs would be if you hadn't killed, but your core cannot reconcile that. All it knows is that you have ended a life. I encountered the same thing many years ago. There is no easy answer, warrior of Knowledge. I can only say that one day you will truly know what you are fighting for, and if you can find that, it will help you to put those uneasy feelings in your core aside and do what is right."

James seemed to smile at that, "Thank you. That helps. Only a little… but it's more than I had ten minutes ago."

The chief nodded, and he would have said something in reply, but a loud gunshot interrupted him. All at once, the dancing, playing, and drinking came to a screeching halt.

Surrounding the village was an army of what looked like dinosaurs made out of Lego blocks, Child level Digimon known as Toy Agumon. This alone would not have been entirely threatening if not for the fact that they spread into the forest as far as the eye could see. There were easily more than seventy.

Leading them was an odd-looking Digimon. It looked remarkably like a cowboy, if not for the fact that its torso was a gigantic revolver. It had two six-shooters on its belt, and it's face was nothing more than blackness with two yellow dots for eyes.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm Revolmon, one of the soldiers of the Metal Empire. I have a score to settle with these four young humans and their foundling Digimon. See, they killed my best buddy Guardromon, and I don't take very kindly to that. So, I'd appreciate a nice fair duel with them. And if you decide to interfere…" he cocked a pistol in one hand, and gestured to the Toy Agumon with the other.

A random J-Mojamon ran forward, "These humans and their Digimon risked their lives for us! We can't stand idly by and–"

BOOM!

The J-Mojamon found the time to stare at the hole in his chest before bursting into pixels.

"Anyone else feeling lucky?" Revolmon said.

None of the J-Mojamon moved.

"Then let's do it!" Revolmon shot a bullet into the air as his Toy Agumon soldiers rushed forward.

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" all four humans cried.

"_Plotmon, armor evolve… the sweetness of science, Butterflymon_!"

"_Armadimon, armor evolve… hidden with purity, Frogmon_!"

"_V-mon, armor evolve… devotion of the deep, Depthmon_!"

"_Wormmon, armor evolve… the shining serpent, Coatlmon_!"

The battle was joined, the Revolmon, for the most part letting the Toy Agumon do the dirty work for him, firing bullets at the Armor Digimon, failing for the most part to break the Digimon's armor plating. After some frustration, he realized something…

The Digimon were covered in protective armor. The humans were not.

In the fray, none of the Chosen noticed the giant pistol-man Digimon creep behind the humans. He would have destroyed them one by one, but, he realized, better to capture them, bring them to his master in the Iron Tower, and let them wallow in their own fear before giving them the courtesy of a slow painful death.

James was too focused on the fact that Butterflymon was being dog piled by a group of Toy Agumon to notice the giant gunman behind him until it was too late.

"Boo," Revolmon said with an invisible grin.

James wanted to rush Revolmon, but before he took a step, Revolmon, quicker than anything he had ever seen, punched him in the gut.

James sailed into the tree trunk and slumped down. In action stories or movies, he would have gotten up. But when an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy gets punched so hard that he hits a giant tree trunk, he doesn't get up.

Revolmon placed one of his pistols under James's chin. James muttered something.

Revolmon's eyes narrowed, "What was that?"

"Please don't kill me," James said, shame and fear filling his face.

Revolmon let out a laugh, "Then I won't. But by the time my master is through with you, you'll wish I did…" He took up James by the neck, gun still pointed at the boy's head, "Kids, I suggest you all surrender and allow yourselves to be put in our capture. Unless, of course, you want your friend to stand a head shorter…" he cocked back the hammer of the gun for emphasis.

In unison, all four Armor Digimon devolved, and were shepherded rather roughly by the Toy Agumon to join their humans, each of whom looked dejected.

Revolmon simply laughed and chucked James to the ground. He passed out, and was carried by two Toy Agumon alongside his friends.

It was only five minutes later that James woke up. He would have slipped back into unconsciousness, but the sounds he heard kept him from doing so…

"_Toy Flame_!"

The Toy Agumon's attacks burned up hut after hut. The J-Mojamon fled, their Jungle Punch attacks useless against the hard plastic of the Toy Agumon's bodies.

James watched the carnage ensue, slowly boiling, finally spilling over.

"How dare you?" he hissed at Revolmon.

"What're you talking about?"

"How dare you do this?" he shouted, "These Digimon have done nothing to you! Why do you destroy everything they've worked for?"

"I am merely doing my duty to the Metal Empire! I am merely completing the work that Guardromon started, before you and your puppy brutally murdered him."

James's eyes went dark, "Murdered him? No, this is a war. I should have seen this earlier. I killed Guardromon because he was an aggressor, fighting for an unjust cause," he said, reaffirming the statement in his own mind, and with it, his previous doubt vanished.

"A war, huh?" Revolmon looked at James incredulously, "then it's some army we're fighting. A ragtag bunch of human brats and their foundling Digimon hope to stand up against the might of a Dark Master."

"Yes, yes we do."

Pedro and Wormmon seemed to puff up a bit at that statement, but neither Carlos, Juana, nor their Digimon did.

Revolmon just laughed, drew out his pistol, and cocked it at James's head, "You forget, I hold your life in my hands. One wrong move and you've got a bullet in your head."

James gulped and said, "I'm not afraid of you and your gun."

Revolmon laughed again, "As you so nicely demonstrated before, you are afraid of me and my gun. The words 'Please don't kill me,' don't show a lot of courage."

James looked up, "No, I'm not afraid anymore. Maybe if you took us in, I would be. But you just burnt that village. I'm not going to let you get away with that."

"How do you propose to do that? You're the one pinned by two Toy Agumon and I'm the one with the weapon."

"Your weapon doesn't matter."

"What do you think you are, Supermon? One shot, you're dead."

"It doesn't matter if I die. If I don't do something, you'll kill me anyway. If I die now, I'll do so defending something, not cowering."

James felt something grow inside him. He kept talking.

"I was afraid. I still am. But my fear doesn't matter, because this is more important."

Revolmon scoffed, "What is?"

"PUTTING YOU DOWN!"

Now, James felt that thing growing inside him glow brightly. It burned his chest and made his heart quite literally glow. Revolmon stepped back a few feet.

"Plotmon and I killed Guardromon because he was causing terror. And I'll kill you too. And the Toy Agumon. I'll stand above the collapsed ruins of your Iron Tower, because I won't stop until your precious Metal Empire is dead! I'll fight it until one of us is dead. I don't care if I die, but no matter what, I'M GOING TO STOP YOU!"

The glowing and burning became almost unbearable. The Toy Agumon let go, James's body burning to their touch. Revolmon pulled back the hammer of his gun, but Plotmon wrestled free and batted the gun away with his paw. A bullet fired harmlessly into the trees.

The light coalesced and formed an egg shaped structure. It was the size of an ostrich's egg, in a flame pattern. An impression of a sun was on its front. A huge blade protruded from the top.

"A Digimental…" Plotmon whispered, "The Digimental of Courage…"

James and Plotmon looked at each other for a millisecond, and nodded.

"Digimental, UP!"

"_Plotmon, armor evolve…_" Plotmon and the Digimental became one, and Plotmon burst into flames, which grew into a larger form. James swore he heard the snarl of a jaguar before the flames flared up.

Where Plotmon stood, there was a giant cat, made completely out of flames. Its snarling face showed a remarkable array of pointed teeth and its giant paws showed huge, razor sharp claws. The flames flared up as the creature roared and called his name…

"_The burning light of Courage, Lynxmon!_"

Revolmon shrunk back at the fire-cat, "Toy Agumon, get him!"

The Lego-saurs jumped on top of him, until the cat was piled down with an army of plastic creatures.

"_Thermal Mane!_" Lynxmon's body flared up, sending fire in all directions. The Toy Agumon directly touching him were deleted, while the others had their legs, arms, or faces melted to the point of being unrecognizable.

Yet the Lego-saurs still rushed him.

"_Wild Nail Rush!_" Lynxmon slashed and slashed at the oncoming Digimon, the armies vaporizing and blowing away in the wind.

James frowned, "This isn't a fight, this is a slaughter."

Meanwhile, in the confusion, Revolmon snuck up behind James and fired his revolver. Fortunately for James, he heard the hammer of the gun before the bullet fired and jumped out of the way.

Unfortunately, he happened to jump of the tree's branch.

Fortunately, Carlos saw the move and grabbed James by the shirt collar before he could fall to his death.

"Jesus, McConnell," Carlos grunted as he pulled James up to safety, "what's with you and falling off of trees?"

James groaned, "We need to start battling on solid ground."

Meanwhile, Lynxmon had responded to the gunshot and pounced on Revolmon. The surviving Toy Agumon realized that their endeavors were failing miserably and ran off, hoping to survive with the severe burn wounds Lynxmon had given them.

Upon pouncing on Revolmon, Lynxmon realized his folly. Revolmon had a gun for a chest, and he was currently placing vital organs on top of a powerful weapon. Revolmon, too, realized this, and promptly shot Lynxmon.

James cried out and ran to his partner. Luckily, the attack had more show than substance; the fire cat had sustained little damage.

Revolmon leveled his pistols, "End of the line, Chosen," pointing at James and Lynxmon.

James closed his eyes and winced as the pistol fired. Upon realizing he was not dead or dying, he looked. Armadimon had tripped the gunman with a Rolling Stone, while V-mon headbutted him to the side. In the confusion, Wormmon caught the revolvers in his Sticky Net and pulled them away from Revolmon.

Revolmon jumped to his feet and blasted at the Child Digimon with his chest cannon, delivering a blast of fire, gunpowder, and shot pellets.

_Wait a minute_, James thought, "Lynxmon, his chest!"

"Way ahead of you, partner!" Lynxmon's head began to flare up, like a bonfire that had gasoline thrown on it.

"_Thermal Mane!_" as Revolmon was firing his chest pistol, a beam of fire shaped like a cat's head fired directly into Revolmon's cannon. The Digimon's chest exploded. There was a mad rush to avoid the shrapnel as the metal from the gun Digimon fell from the blast.

The dust cleared, and with a beam of orange light shooting into James's D-Terminal, Lynxmon reverted to Plotmon, who nudged up to James's leg.

"Are you all right, James?" Plotmon asked.

James was silent for a while, then he said, "No, not really. I still feel sick about it… but the chief was right. I know what I'm fighting for now. And that's enough to put that sick feeling aside," James's face broke into a wide grin, "And by DARWIN is Lynxmon the coolest possible Digimon! A giant cat made of fire! You kicked serious ass."

Carlos laughed, then slapped James on the back, "So what next?"

James grinned, "What're you asking me for, Carlos?"

"Because you're our leader," Juana said, shocking Carlos and James, before James grinned.

"Well, let's not say we're rude guests. We help clean up the mess the Toy Agumon made. Then we party like we very nearly died," James said, cheerful for the first time that whole week.


End file.
